Gay actors fear coming out will kill their careers, says Winslet

The actress claims to know ‘at least four’ actors who hide their sexuality.

‘It’s painful. Because they fear being found out’: Kate Winslet. Picture: Getty Images

Gay actors in Hollywood hide their sexuality amid a climate of “fear” that they will not be cast in straight roles, according to the Oscar winner Kate Winslet.

The Titanic star knows “at least four actors” who have not come out because they believe it would kill their career. She attacked the “judgment, discrimination and homophobia” in the film industry and said LGBT people in Hollywood needed a #MeToo-style movement.

“I cannot tell you the number of young actors I know — some well known, some starting out — who are terrified their sexuality will be revealed and that it will stand in the way of their being cast in straight roles,” Winslet, 45, told The Sunday Times.

Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in The Happy Prince

“A well-known actor has just got an American agent and the agent said, ‘I understand you are bisexual. I wouldn’t publicise that.’ I can think of at least four actors absolutely hiding their sexuality. It’s painful. Because they fear being found out.”

Despite a push for more diversity at awards ceremonies, after criticism that they were dominated by white actors and directors, there has been little discussion about gay and bisexual representation. There are no openly gay nominees in the main acting categories at the BAFTAS which take place next weekend, or the Oscars in three weeks time.

Being gay has long been taboo for Hollywood stars, as producers and financiers fear alienating audiences. “People aren’t in the closet because they want to be (but) because they’re safer there,” said Jose Arroyo, associate professor of film studies at Warwick University. “Hollywood is commercial, it is about selling ideas and desires … If an audience sees you with disgust or disdain, it is obviously an inhibition to the money men.”

There are few openly gay actors or actresses at the top of Hollywood. Rock Hudson, best known for his roles in Magnificent Obsession and Giant in the 1950s, came out in 1985 when he revealed that he had AIDS. Rupert Everett, whose breakout role was opposite Colin Firth in the 1984 gay period drama Another Country, came out in 1989. He has said being open about his sexuality limited his career. Everett revealed in his 2006 memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, that he almost won a part opposite Sharon Stone in a sequel to Basic Instinct, but the fact that he was openly gay was a deal-breaker for the studio, MGM. Everett said his agent was told: “To all intents and purposes, a homosexual was a pervert in the eyes of America and the world would never accept me in the role.”

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster, who shot to prominence in Taxi Driver in 1976 and won Oscars for 1988’s The Accused, and The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, publicly addressed her sexuality only at the 2013 Golden Globes.

“We have yet to have a major star who is out as a major star, not 20 years or 40 years after their peak,” Arroyo said. “Past experience is not promising. Look at Rupert Everett.”

Others who have come out include Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in the Star Trek reboots, and Kristen Stewart, the star of the Twilight films, who said in 2017 that she was “so gay, dude”.

Being out as gay appears to be more accepted on TV. ITV’s This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield was widely praised for coming out last year. Theatre stars also appear more willing to be open. Ian McKellen came out as gay on BBC Radio 3 in 1988 and went on to star in The Lord of the Rings and X-Men films.

Winslet, who won an Oscar for her role in The Reader in 2009, plays the paleontologist Mary Anning in her latest film, Ammonite. The film caused controversy by featuring Anning in a speculative same-sex relationship with the geologist Charlotte Murchison, played by Saoirse Ronan. Like Winslet, Ronan, 26, is straight. Francis Lee, the film’s writer and director, defended the script, saying he had often seen “queer history be routinely ‘straightened’ ”.

Winslet said she hoped her performance would pave the way for gay actors to play gay stories in films. “Hollywood has to drop that dated crap of, ‘Can he play straight because, apparently, he’s gay?’,” she said. “That should be almost illegal ... And it can’t just be distilled to the question about gay actors playing gay parts. Because actors, in some cases, are choosing not to come out for personal reasons.”

The Sunday Times

Ian McKellen came out as gay on BBC Radio 3 in 1988 and went on to star in The Lord of the Rings and X-Men films. Picture: AP