Jonathan Groff recently opened up about coming out to his brother, revealing seeing a certain masterpiece that inspired him to do so.
In a recent interview with Condé Nast Traveler, the 38-year-old American actor and singer recounted his travel to Italy after concluding his two-year run in Broadway’s Spring Awakening in June 2008. He was only 23 at the time, and Florence was his final destination before heading to Rome to meet with his brother.
Groff was stunned to witness Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures during his visit at the Accademia. He noted that they “are so constricted, like they’re straining to be released from the marble and fighting for air.”
“I ached just looking at them,” the actor added.
But then the unfinished sculptures lead up to the Statue Of David, which he described as a “perfect, liberated form.”
“I started crying and wondered, ‘What is it about this naked man that makes me so emotional?,'” Groff recalled about his experience seeing Michelangelo’s Statue Of David.
He further revealed the details about how he decided to come out to his brother, sharing:
“Afterward, I sat in a piazza, journaling, thinking about how nobody here knew or cared about me, and I decided to come out to my brother—who is also named David—the next day.”
According to the actor, “only my roommate knew I was gay, because he was also my secret boyfriend” prior to coming out to his brother. While they were out for dinner at a restaurant, his brother David opened up to him about being in love with a girl who is now his wife.
Groff noted that it was like his brother was “coming out” to him “because we’d never talked about relationships or sex or love in our entire lives as brothers.” And after sharing about the woman he loves, David asked his brother:
“This is the first time I’ve ever felt this, and I’m wondering, What about you?”
“And I shared everything with him. We just showed all of ourselves to each other. It never could have happened anywhere else,” the ‘Hamilton’ actor further expressed.
Moreover, Groff publicly came out as gay back in October 2009.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, cntraveler.com
Sweet coming out story. I really enjoy reading how different gay men came out. Still a closeted gay here which is probably why I love reading them.