Danny Pintauro is making his acting comeback in the upcoming Lifetime Christmas movie ‘A Country Christmas Harmony,’ which is his first major role in 30 years.
In a recent interview with People, the 46-year-old ‘Who’s the Boss?’ actor opened up about the difficulties he went through after being forcibly outed by The National Enquirer in 1997. After the sitcom concluded, Pintauro attended Stanford University where he studied to become a veterinarian.
However, he failed Chemistry and decided to shift to the Theater program. Thereafter, Enquirer threatened to reveal his sexuality to the public. By then, the actor was already out to his friends and family, so he gave an interview about it to help control the narrative.
Pintauro admitted that he was “angry” at first, but he eventually calmed down after seeing his fans’ letters telling him how much he inspired them.
“I’ve still got a box of letters from people across the country,” he noted.
After college, the actor struggled to find a job as a theater director, and he also started doing drugs after hanging out with the wrong crowd.
“I was lost. A year goes by, and I’m doing a lot of crystal meth,” he recalled.
And during one sexual encounter while high on drugs, he contracted HIV. Pintauro said that New York “became an ugly place,” so he decided to move back to L.A. for a fresh start. He began taking medication to treat HIV, weaned himself off drugs without going to rehab, and fast forward to 2012 when he met his now husband Wil Tabares.
The two of them got married in 2014, and the actor expressed that his husband “means everything to me.” After the hardships that he was able to overcome, watching ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ last year inspired him to make his acting comeback.
He watched openly gay actors Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp’s “beautiful kiss,” and he felt “jealous.”
“It made me want to participate,” Pintauro admitted.
He further expressed,
“Something just clicked. I finally felt ready.”
The actor then quit his job as a veterinarian technician, and his first audition landed him a role in Lifetime’s ‘A Country Christmas Harmony,’ wherein he will be portraying the character of a country singer’s (Brooke Elliott) best friend and assistant trying to boost her career.
Source: people – yahoo.com/entertainment
Didn’t he post a photo of his assh*le on the internet?
Congrats to you Danny on your acting! Congrats on your marriage too!
I happened to watch that movie last night and thought he was attractive so Googled him. Glad he’s back on the screen and happy.
Welcome back.
When I used to watch him on Who’s the Boss I knew I was like him even though I didn’t know what that meant until years later. Yes my gaydar worked when I was very young.
Me too Kevin I was a young boy when I also noticed how gaydar works because I certainly noticed Anderson Cooper. Fast forward meeting him as a person interested in broadcast journalism. It’s something I’ll never forget and am always going to be out, and proudly gay. So happy for Danny really great article…
It’s good that he’s moved on from the meth culture in the big cities. That stuff is EVIL