# Any celebrities refusing to enter the closet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209 "2012-06-05T22:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/1 "2012-06-05T22:15:09Z")
As per the “Now that Ricky is out…” thread, there’s no need to have any solid information, wild ass guesses are fine. I’m wondering are there any celebrities who are publicly gay but you think that is a crafted persona and they are really straight? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/2 "2012-06-05T22:40:52Z")
I’m still halfway convinced that Richard Simmons is straight and it’s all a big act. Unless he’s come out recently, I seem to recall that he’s been very quiet about his sexuality. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/3 "2012-06-06T00:14:10Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I’m still halfway convinced that Richard Simmons is straight and it’s all a big act. Unless he’s come out recently, I seem to recall that he’s been very quiet about his sexuality. [Not that quiet. Yes, everyone, it’s the Whose Line clip.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxkxG3DF4k) Although, that clip certainly does make him a candidate for this thread. If he’s straight, he’s playing himself massively flaming for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/4 "2012-06-06T00:32:10Z")
Years ago, I saw a (pretty dreadful) movie on TV (a weekend late-late night show) from Australia (the star being the guy from the _Crocodile Dundee_ series; Paul Hogan?) in which one of the subplots was about a flamingly flamboyant woman’s hairdresser in a small outback town who was actually straight, but camped it up like crazy because A) his female clients expected it, and B) they would then begin to regard him like a girlfriend/sister/confidante, after which he would easily be able to shagg them rotten, with no one (their husbands or friends) being the wiser. I could _almost_ be convinced that similar situations have actually happened in real life, as I recall the award winning documentary _I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry_ seemed to hypothesize… ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/5 "2012-06-06T00:36:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Not that quiet. Yes, everyone, it’s the Whose Line clip.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxkxG3DF4k) > > Although, that clip certainly does make him a candidate for this thread. If he’s straight, he’s playing himself massively flaming for some reason. Because it’s entertaining? Because his mostly female clientele eats it up? Let’s face it, he’s about the most nonthreatening guy on the planet. And yeah, I’ve seen the clip–it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on TV. But it doesn’t prove anything. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/6 "2012-06-06T01:50:52Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I’m still halfway convinced that Richard Simmons is straight and it’s all a big act. Unless he’s come out recently, I seem to recall that he’s been very quiet about his sexuality. NOBODY could be that good an actor. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/7 "2012-06-06T02:27:23Z")
I have to say, I’m really puzzled about the subject line of this thread and don’t really think it matches the question asked in the OP. As far as I understand it, ‘the closet’ is not about straightness. Admitting that you’re straight after all is not going into the closet. Being in the closet is about keeping the secret. Going to elaborate lengths to convince people that you’re really straight after all **if you’re not** would be going back into the closet. But the question, as asked, is about people who are truly straight ‘at heart’, so that doesn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/8 "2012-06-06T02:42:32Z")
[Razor Ramon Hard Gay,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaki_Sumitani) Japanese pro wrestler who [cultivated a very, very gay image](https://www.google.com/search?q=hard+gay&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=IcLOT9HOBImw2QWm9O3NDA&biw=1150&bih=632&sei=VcPOT8rJEOe62wXC9IneDA), but whose career ended when he was caught on a date with _gasp_ a woman! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/9 "2012-06-06T03:02:02Z")
It used to be pretty common knowledge that David Bowie was bisexual. I think now he says that was mainly PR; he’s straight. I know of at least one actor who refused to answer questions about his orientation- which usually means “I’m gay”- who is in fact straight: [Dan Futterman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Futterman). He was playing a gay character onstage in _Angels in America_ at the time and didn’t want anybody to suspend disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/10 "2012-06-06T03:06:46Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I have to say, I’m really puzzled about the subject line of this thread and don’t really think it matches the question asked in the OP. > > As far as I understand it, ‘the closet’ is not about straightness. Admitting that you’re straight after all is not going into the closet. Being in the closet is about keeping the secret. Yeah, I thought this thread was going to be about gay celebrities who never really had to come out of the closet because they were openly gay from very early on in their careers. The only ones immediately springing to mind are the Indigo Girls, Ru Paul, director John Waters, and Chris Colfer of _Glee_. As for the OP’s actual question, I can think of a few celebrities with “edgy” public personas who at some point claimed to be bisexual but who have openly been involved in any actual same-sex relationships since becoming famous. I guess some of them may have been lying, or exaggerating. However, in Hollywood at least there are few enough out gay celebrities – and few, if any, who appear to have benefited professionally from coming out – that I think it’s unlikely that many of them are just pretending to be gay. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/11 "2012-06-06T03:18:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It used to be pretty common knowledge that David Bowie was bisexual. I think now he says that was mainly PR; he’s straight. > > I know of at least one actor who refused to answer questions about his orientation- which usually means “I’m gay”- who is in fact straight: [Dan Futterman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Futterman). He was playing a gay character onstage in _Angels in America_ at the time and didn’t want anybody to suspend disbelief. During the ‘Will & Grace’ days, handsome Canadian Eric McCormack did the same thing during interviews, saying it shouldn’t matter whether he was gay in relation to acting like someone else. (He’s straight.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/12 "2012-06-06T03:52:31Z")
…this would explain some things about Keanu Reeves ([del]though it seems more likely he’s just ace[/del] never mind, found out he had a common-law wife) and Johnny Galecki (who I thought was possibly gay, but apparently not). ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/13 "2012-06-06T04:15:28Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > During the ‘Will & Grace’ days, handsome Canadian Eric McCormack did the same thing during interviews, saying it shouldn’t matter whether he was gay in relation to acting like someone else. (He’s straight.) It’s funny you would mention this, but the first year or so that _Will & Grace_ was on (a show I only actually watched a handful of episodes of) I saw Eric McCormack on 3 or 4 separate interviews (Letterman, Conan, etc.) and on each single one, he worked the fact that he was straight into the conversation; He didn’t seem to do it in an overly obvious, uncomfortable way, but I remember it because I had seen _Will & Grace_ before, and though I have NO gaydar to speak of, I was under the impression that he really was gay, (he certainly played the part convincingly IMHO) and so when he mentioned that he was straight and married, I remember it specifically as a “Oh wow!” kind of moment, and then it really stood out when he repeated himself on different talk shows he appeared on around the same time. Similarly, the same thing happened with the actor who plays “Cam” on ABC’s _Modern Family_ (Cam is the “Big Boned” half of the gay couple, and probably my favorite character on the entire series), in that I have seen him (don’t recall his actual name) on at least 5 different talk shows in the past couple of years, (including one appearance with the actor who plays Cam’s partner Mitchell) and on _each & every single occasion_ he has mentioned that he is actually straight, and then goes on to relate a funny anecdotal story about how the general public has a hard time getting thru their collective heads that a straight man can play a gay character convincingly. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/14 "2012-06-06T04:21:29Z")
It’s funny you would mention this, but the first year or so that _Will & Grace_ was on (a show I only actually watched a handful of episodes of) I saw Eric McCormack on 3 or 4 separate interviews (Letterman, Conan, etc.) and on each single one, he worked the fact that he was straight into the conversation; He didn’t seem to do it in an overly obvious, uncomfortable way, but I remember it because I had seen _Will & Grace_ before, and though I have NO gaydar to speak of, I was under the impression that he really was gay, (he certainly played the part convincingly IMHO) and so when he mentioned that he was straight and married, I remember it specifically as a “Oh wow!” kind of moment, and then it really stood out when he repeated himself on different talk shows he appeared on around the same time. Similarly, the same thing happened with the actor who plays “Cam” on ABC’s _Modern Family_ (Cam is the “Big Boned” half of the gay couple, and probably my favorite character on the entire series), in that I have seen him (don’t recall his actual name) on at least 5 different talk shows in the past couple of years, (including one appearance with the actor who plays Cam’s partner Mitchell) and on _each & every single occasion_ he has mentioned that he is actually straight, and then goes on to relate a funny anecdotal story about how the general public has a hard time getting it thru their collective heads that a straight man can play a gay character convincingly. ETA—The actors name is Eric Stonestreet Screwed the post up in the attempted edit… ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/15 "2012-06-06T13:43:03Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It used to be pretty common knowledge that David Bowie was bisexual. I think now he says that was mainly PR; he’s straight. Similarily, I vaguely remember reading an article about a female folk singer during the 90’s who presented herself as a lesbian, and caused a minor scandal when she was “reverse outted” as straight. (sorry for the vagueness, it was a long time ago. But it was in article in New York Times Magazine about female folk singers, if that rings any bells for Dopers who might remember more of the details). I suspect there were more musicians that “faked gay” during the 80’s-90’s, when being gay was edgy enough to get peoples attention, but not so edgy that you had to worry about legal repercussions. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/16 "2012-06-06T13:56:11Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Similarily, I vaguely remember reading an article about a female folk singer during the 90’s who presented herself as a lesbian, and caused a minor scandal when she was “reverse outted” as straight. > > (sorry for the vagueness, it was a long time ago. But it was in article in New York Times Magazine about female folk singers, if that rings any bells for Dopers who might remember more of the details). Ani DiFranco? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/17 "2012-06-06T13:56:45Z")
Gossip and hearsay are OK? In that case: I knew someone who met the Village People, and claimed half of them were straight. Even less reliably, there were rumors that at least one of the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” people was actually straight. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/18 "2012-06-06T16:13:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It used to be pretty common knowledge that David Bowie was bisexual. I think now he says that was mainly PR; he’s straight. Hmm…I interviewed [Romy Haag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romy_Haag) in Berlin, and when David Bowie moved to Berlin specifically to live with her, I wouldn’t consider that just PR. At least her conversation about him indicated they were a bit more than buddies who just liked to go bowling together on Saturday nights… ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/19 "2012-06-06T16:56:31Z")
Isn’t that what **Sampiro** is saying, that Bowie is straight? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209/20 "2012-06-06T18:12:38Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Ani DiFranco? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t her, as I knew who DiFranco was at the time and so would’ve remembered the name. I thought the story was amusing since, at the time, being gay or lesbian was still somewhat taboo, so I was amused by a sub-culture (female folk singers and her their fans) where it was seen as desirable to the point where someone would “reverse closet” themselves to help record sales. Hopefully someone from the Dope will remember the story and fill in what I don’t remember (or tell me I’ve been misremembering it all these years). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-celebrities-refusing-to-enter-the-closet/624209.md?page=2)