‘Glee’ Alum Chris Colfer Was Told to Avoid Coming Out as Gay to Protect His Career
Glee alum Chris Colfer revealed that he was advised not to share his sexuality because it would have ‘ruined’ his career.
Chris Colfer revealed that he was once told, “Do not come out, whatever you do, because it will ruin your career,” on The View on Tuesday, June 4.
Just days after welcoming in Pride Month, the 34-year-old added, “I grew up in a very conservative town where being openly gay was dangerous. I remember when I got on the show, the role was written for me, but I did not know what the role was going to be.”
The actor’s breakout role as Kurt Hummel on Glee – starring alongside Lea Michele, Amber Riley, and both the late Cory Monteith and Naya Rivera — led him to stardom. Kurt’s role embraced the journey in finding out who he was and eventually identifying with his sexuality. “So, I opened the script and when I read the script for the first time is when I saw that it was an openly gay character,” said Chris.
Prior to the show, the Roswell Johnson author hadn’t come out, even though he felt as he “couldn’t hide it.” During his interview, Chris confessed, “They said, ‘Don’t worry, as long as you never address it, you’ll be rewarded for it in the end’,” the Glee alum admitted.
Chris knew it was time to bring the news into the light once he encountered a fan at a poster-signing tour for the show. “I opened it [a note from a young fan] up and there was a little note that said, ‘Thank you’ and there was a little paperclip chain that was in the colors of the rainbow. In that moment I knew, I have to come out,” shared the actor, whose character ended up falling for Blaine Anderson – played by Darren Criss – on the show. “At the time, I was thinking, if I’m an openly gay actor, I may never win a major award, and I may never get to play a superhero, but I think being a beacon of positivity and providing comfort for people is way more important.”
Since his Glee days, the author has been working on other projects. Roswell Johson Saves The World is one of Chris’ series in which he just released his 20th book for. The story, which tells the adventures of a young boy in space after being abducted by aliens, has become a “banned” book due to being inclusive and having LGBTQ+ and strong female characters. “It’s never fun when people show up with guns to school board meetings and demand that your books be taken off the shelves. But the free press is very nice —- it’s a really really unfortunate time that we’re living in when books like mine that are completely innocent are being targeted simply because of who wrote them,” he shared to the hosts on The View.