Coming out is a difficult thing for anyone who identifies as LGBTQ. It is a much different story when you are an internationally-known actor who might have their careers tossed away when you decide to take that brave step and be your authentic self.
Hunky Matt Bomer, who has developed quite the professional resume over the years in movies like Magic Mike and The Normal Heart, didn’t have it the easiest after he told the world he was gay while his star power was on the rise.
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“We’re living in a day and age where there are actors and athletes and public figures who are openly gay and have been unafraid to acknowledge that, but without a question, there’s a trade-off, in my experience,” he said during an interview with Attitude Magazine.
“I came out at a time when it was very risky to do so – I had a studio film that was about to premiere, and a television series coming out. But to me it was more important to be my almost authentic self, both for my family, and for myself.”
“I wasn’t trying to be a role model, nor am I now, but I thought if it could help just one person, then it would be worth it,” he continued. “But to say that didn’t cost me certain things in my career would be a lie. It did. To me that trade-off was worth it. But it hasn’t been some fairy tale — no pun intended.”
He isn’t the only known name to discuss his coming out process in recent weeks. Pete Buttigieg‘s husband Chasten detailed his own traumatic experience of doing so during his teen years where he ran away from home as a result of the conservative Northern Michigan area he grew up in.
After crashing on friend’s couches and sleeping in his car his mother called him and urged him to come home. It was then that Chasten realized his parents were on his side compared to the naysayers around him who told him that him being gay was simply wrong.
“They affirmed my existence, they told me they were scared for me, they told me they would fight like hell for me, and we have to do that for all the people in our life,” he revealed. “People who opened up and said, ‘this is going to be really hard and you have an ally in me.’”