Wentworth Miller of ‘Prison Break' Talks about his Coming out
Wentworth Miller is opening up about his decision to come out as gay.
In a new interview with Details, the 42-year-old former Prison Break star, who came out back in August 2013, says he feels more open and honest since his announcement last year.
"I feel more fully expressed," he tells the mag. "After Prison Break, I came to grips with the fact that my public persona was in misalignment with how I actually felt. I was out to a handful of people in my twenties, and once I hit 30, I was out to family and friends. But professionally, I was feeding a fantasy. I created this air of ‘We don't address that thing.'"
When asked if he ever felt like he was lying to fans about his sexuality, Miller dished, "My face was on billboards, and I thought it was my job to act a certain way. But I think audiences knew to a certain degree."
"The people onscreen aren't the characters they're playing," the hunky star added. "They're our projection of who we want them to be. I think it's possible to have a man-crush if you're not gay or to have a crush on a guy you know to be gay if you're a woman. Attraction is fluid, and I think our imaginations are strong enough to hold a container for all of this complexity, even if we know on a subconscious level something’s not what it appears to be.”
pics:sofeminine.co.uk
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The Prison Break star decided it was time to publicly reveal his sexuality after being invited to attend a film festival in Russia.
"Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes," Wentworth, 41, says in a letter to Maria Averbakh, director of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival. "However, as a gay man, I must decline.
"I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government," he continued in the letter, posted on GLAAD's website. "The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly."
He also said "if circumstances improve, I'll be free to make a different choice."
GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz praised Miller's actions.
"Wentworth's bold show of support sends a powerful message to LGBT Russians: you are not alone," Cruz said. "As people from across the globe continue to speak out against this horrific law, more celebrities and corporations should follow his courageous lead in openly condemning Russia's anti-LGBT law."
Implemented last month, a controversial new law has banned "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors," including the public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere children might hear it. The law has been condemned by Russian and international human rights groups as highly discriminatory.
The anti-gay propaganda law quickly stirred up controversy, with people calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia to gay bars in Los Angeles and New York holding "vodka-dumping" protests.
C. Hodes/FOX
Madonna was unsuccessfully sued by conservative groups in Russia for violating the propoganda law in St Petersburg after she said during a concert there last summer that gay people should be "treated with dignity."
Earlier this month, Lady Gaga tweeted her outrage over Russia's treatment of LGBT people.
"Sending bravery to LGBTs in Russia. The rise in government abuse is archaic. Hosing teenagers with pepper spray? Beatings? Mother Russia?" she firsttweeted, followed by "The Russian government is criminal. Oppression will be met with revolution. Russian LGBTs you are not alone. We will fight for your freedom...Why didn't you arrest me when you had the chance, Russia? Because you didn’t want answer to the world?"
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