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Wentworth Miller on his years as a closeted gay man: ” … Professionally, I was feeding a fantasy”
During his four years as the star of the Fox drama Prison Break, actor Wentworth Miller did not want the world to know that he is gay.
‘I was out to a handful of people in my twenties, and once I hit 30, I was out to family and friends,’ he says in a new interview with Details. ‘But professionally, I was feeding a fantasy. I created this air of “We don’t address that thing.”‘
He adds: ‘My face was on billboards, and I thought it was my job to act a certain way. But I think audiences knew to a certain degree.’
It was last summer that Miller acknowledged publicly that he is gay in a letter declining an invitation to appear at a film festival in Russia because of that country’s anti-gay laws.
‘I feel more fully expressed,’ he says of his post-coming out period. ‘After Prison Break, I came to grips with the fact that my public persona was in misalignment with how I actually felt.’
Miller doesn’t think being out should hinder his playing straight roles in the future such as in the upcoming film The Loft.
‘The people onscreen aren’t the characters they’re playing. They’re our projection of who we want them to be. I think it’s possible to have a man-crush if you’re not gay or to have a crush on a guy you know to be gay if you’re a woman.
‘Attraction is fluid, and I think our imaginations are strong enough to hold a container for all of this complexity, even if we know on a subconscious level something’s not what it appears to be.’
Comments
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Cool Curt says:
He was in ‘Human Stain’ he played ‘Coleman Silk’ (the younger version) and I thought to myself, “Oh man, this guy is gorgeous!” Then he was the lead guy in Mariah Carey (Mimi) video ‘We Belong Together’ which was Mariah’s video re-launching her career and Wentworth helped in that process because he is just so easy on the eyes and the soul and Mariah is just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. There was something so tender and so special about him and I didn’t want to even think that this man could be gay but you know we come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Then ‘Prison Break’ happened and I had a few co-workers (all females) swooning over him and he was every girls wallpaper on their phone, until I broke the news about him being gay and you would have thought I killed someone. These girls weren’t just heartbroken but angry and of course it was my fault (single and man-less me) because they thought I was rubbing it in their face and I truly wasn’t. I just know that it’s hard for some women to deal with the fact that most of the hottest guys (like Wentworth) that God created are gay or bisexual. There are some amazing men that are straight and I appreciate their beauty (inner and outer) just as well but something happens to allegedly straight men, when they come out (as gay). They shouldn’t lose their sex appeal but in the eyes of straight women, they do. All the attributes they go crazy for are now gone and it’s odd to me and if there is any studies that should be done, that would be one. Just imagine if someone say, ‘Channing Tatum’ comes out as gay, what do you think would happen? This is just my opinion but I do feel that gay men in the last 40 to 50 years really made some of the celebrities hunks, the huge stars as they are. From James Dean to James Franco, gay men would start the hype and I have to quote Kim Cattrall (Samantha): “It’s starts with the Gays, then the Girls and the industry will follow!” Wentworth’s strength and courage makes him even sexier to me now and I’m so proud that he is out and I pray it doesn’t stall his career and his star but makes it even better and brighter.
Sam says:
Revisited Mariah’s ‘We Belong Together’ video….absolutely melted (again)!
wolfbane says:
Can’t wait to see his take on Captain Cold.