“Don’t listen to your advisers, listen to your heart,” he said
Ian McKellen wants his fellow actors to embrace their gender and sexual identity publicly. In an interview with The Times of London Sunday, the Lord of the Rings actor urged famous LGBTQ people hiding their identity to come out of the closet.
“I have never met anybody who came out who regretted it,” McKellen said, who came out himself in 1988. “I feel sorry for any famous person who feels they can’t come out. Being in the closet is silly — there’s no need for it.”
“Don’t listen to your advisers, listen to your heart,” he added. Listen to your gay friends who know better. Come out. Get into the sunshine.”
In the interview, McKellen reflected on his titular role in Edward II in 1970 and how he’s helped mentor Daniel Evans, who’ll play the King in a new adaptation of the production. “You don’t have to be gay to play Edward II,” McKellen told the outlet, adding, “but it helps.”
Edward II, which featured a queer storyline with the king, premiered when when homosexuality was still illegal in Scotland. “We also had a sense it was our play, although it wasn’t billed or directed as overly gay propaganda,” he said. “Edward isn’t a very attractive character. He starts the play as someone who is innocent and beautiful in his love for Gaveston, then becomes a bit of a monster.”
The new interview comes two years after McKellen told Variety that his life “changed for the better” after he came out during a BBC Radio interview. “Almost overnight everything in my life changed for the better — my relationships with people and my whole attitude toward acting changed,” he told the outlet.
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