Friday, December 31, 2010

Rupert Everett's Career Dies After Coming Out as Gay

Rupert Everett has become the latest gay star to speak openly about the downside of 'coming out', revealing he was shunned by Hollywood after he declared he was a homosexual. The "My Best Friend's Wedding" star, 51, admits he had to flee Hollywood after his big reveal two decades ago - because no one would hire him.

He tells the BBC, "I just never got a job there (in Hollywood), and I never got a job here (in Britain), after (coming out)... I never had another job here for 10 years, probably, and I moved to Europe."


His comments come just days after veteran Richard Chamberlain went public with his regrets about 'coming out' as a gay man. The "Thorn Birds" star has urged gay actors not to follow in his footsteps - insisting his homosexual admission has damaged his career. The 76-year-old star revealed his homosexuality in his autobiography, "Shattered Love", published in 2003 and he recently told gay publication The Advocate the confession wasn't a good career move.

He said, "There's still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. For an actor to be working (at all) is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren't. So it's just silly for a working actor to say, 'Oh, I don't care if anybody knows I'm gay' - especially if you're a leading man."

"Personally, I wouldn't advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out... Despite all the wonderful advances that have been made, it's still dangerous for an actor to talk about that in our extremely misguided culture."