CULTURE: Ian McKellen on being gay in Hollywood!

Ian McKellan was 49 when he came out publicly as a gay man and has since enjoyed the most successful phase of his career.

He’s been a part of two huge blockbuster franchises: The Lord of the Rings and X-Men, earned two Academy Award nominations (for Gods and Monsters and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring).

He’s in an excellent position to talk about being an out actor in Hollywood and he did just that recently with Popeater. Here are some excerpts:

On closeted actors: “If you’re going around telling a lie you may get by but you won’t be half as happy as you would be if you came out. If that means you have to give up hopes of being one of the three or four young sex symbols in Hollywood so be it. You probably weren’t going to be one of those anyway. That happens by chance and it doesn’t last for very long.”

Benefit of being out: “I don’t think any gay person is going to be happy and bring joy to themselves and other people unless they can be honest about their sexuality, and if other people don’t like that honestly, that’s a comment on them and not on the person who is being honest.”

On how open you should be: “There is a difference between living a private life and being in the closet. Being in the closet means you’re lying about your life but just because you come out doesn’t mean you have to talk about every affair you have. You don’t have to talk about what you do in bed anymore than I have to talk about the food I eat.”