# Celebrities you were surprised to find out were straight **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024 "2010-02-22T20:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/121 "2010-02-26T09:06:39Z")
> [@MaceMan](#): > > Christopher Lowell, the interior decorator. I knew his behavior was an affectation, but I thought he was really gay. Turns out he’s just a straight man trying to be famous by exploiting flamboyant mannerisms. > Cite: [Christopher Lowell](http://www.nndb.com/people/384/000049237/) That’s not much of a cite. Is there a better one somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/122 "2010-02-26T16:48:31Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > Andrew has been a friend of mind since I worked with him back in the early 90s. My initial assumption was that he was gay, and when he told me he went to Vassar, I thought yeah, for sure. I was wrong though. I’ve been out with him socially many times and he is most definately straight. He’s always struck me as a genuinely nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/123 "2010-02-26T17:01:28Z")
> [@MaceMan](#): > > Christopher Lowell, the interior decorator. I knew his behavior was an affectation, but I thought he was really gay. Turns out he’s just a straight man trying to be famous by exploiting flamboyant mannerisms. > Cite: [Christopher Lowell](http://www.nndb.com/people/384/000049237/) Wait, what?! Okay, I’m gonna need to see actual video proof of him lovin’ up a woman before I buy him as straight! > [@](#): > > Is it wrong for a straight man to play up the gay stereotypes and to parody an effeminate character, just to make a name for himself? **koxinga** ’s example of Rock Hudson aside, it feels wrong to me – like a whie guy going around in blackface and speaking like the crows in _Dumbo_ so he can get on “Live at the Apollo” or something. I thought of another one: George Sanders. I think this was just because my first experience of him was with _All About Eve,_ where he played an Oscar Wilde-esque theater critic. Although his Addison DeWitt claimed to “want” one of the women in the cast, I always felt that was more for beardy purposes (or a power-grab) than sexual attraction. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/124 "2010-02-26T19:15:02Z")
David Alan Grier was another surprise. It has nothing to do with the character he played in the “Men on \_\_\_\_” skits of _In Living Color_ but his persona on talk shows and interviews. I just assumed he was open, but, apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/125 "2010-02-26T19:52:43Z")
Jon Cryer (Alan on _Two and a Half Men_). They’ve played it up on the show. In one episode Allison Janney questions his heterosexuality and Alan says something like “No, I’m just witty and urbane.” (Which is funny, because the character is neither.) In other episodes, Alan wonders if he’s gay because he gets along so well with a gay friend, clerks in stores assume he’s gay, and he pretends to be gay because Charlie wants to impress a gay man who can help with his career. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/126 "2010-03-01T19:13:24Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’d always assumed that Hugh Jackman is as gay as a sunny day in April. On that note, there’s a funny story he told during an NPR interview. He was acting in a play and there was one scene where he had to french kiss another guy. Well, during one of the shows someone in the audience yells out, “No, Wolverine don’t do it!!” And he starts cracking up on stage and just keeps on kissing the guy, because he’s afraid he’ll burst out laughing if he stops. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/127 "2010-03-01T20:29:05Z")
Entertainment columns mention that Seth Green is engaged to an actress named Clare Grant. This surprised me as I assumed he was gay (not that this is proof he isn’t, but it is indicative of hetero at least). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/128 "2010-03-02T00:27:41Z")
From a few years ago, on _Royal Canadian Air Farce’s_ English as a Second Language News: _“Two surprises in the news tonight: One, Prince Edward’s getting married! Two, to a woman!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/129 "2010-03-02T00:55:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > How does [Florida Governor Charlie Crist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Crist) read on your gaydar? He makes my Steve Martinometer max-out. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/130 "2010-03-16T21:27:15Z")
Bump. David Schwimmer from _Friends_ [is engaged](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/14/david-schwimmer-engaged-t_n_498376.html)to a 24 year old photographer. Not that this is proof he’s straight, but it is surprising; I’d always suspected he was gay. (The comments on the Huffington Post show that so did several others.) ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/131 "2010-03-16T22:07:07Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > Wow, this actually may take the prize for the most ridiculous post I have ever read on the SD boards. > > Why wouldn’t straight people have gaydar? > By your logic they must at least have “straight-dar”. In which case they would notice when someone so completely does NOT ping their “straight-dar”, so that works as gaydar after all. > > We are all sexual beings, and our response to people is colored by whether they are in our “target market”. Very few people can hide this. > This is NOT just little things like “a mannerism or speech pattern here or there” - this is one of the biggest components of the human psyche. > > I am a (straight) female. Gay guys respond to me VERY differently from straight guys. Even the straight guys who are not attracted to me show it in ways that gay guys don’t. That’s the human animal in us. > > I think the real reason people can be wrong about celebrities is not because the observer is straight, but because they are not meeting the celeb in real life. When you meet someone in real life, your gay-dar will work better. Because, again, it’s an animal thing. > > Straight doesn’t mean brain-dead or asexual. Saying that gay OR straight people do or do not have ‘gaydar’ is like saying that black people are good dancers or jews know how to bargain-hunt. It may help with your stand-up routine, and in certain contexts you’ll be able to find lots of examples that seem to support your statement, but the reality that resulted in these folks having those abilities doesn’t really spring from a direct causal relationship between being black and able to dance, etc. Now, if anyone wants to claim that autistic people have lousy gaydar, I’m listening. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/132 "2010-03-16T22:22:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Bump. > > David Schwimmer from _Friends_ [is engaged](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/14/david-schwimmer-engaged-t_n_498376.html)to a 24 year old photographer. Not that this is proof he’s straight, but it is surprising; I’d always suspected he was gay. (The comments on the Huffington Post show that so did several others.) My cousin dated Schwimmer for years. He’s definitely not gay. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/133 "2010-03-16T22:52:43Z")
> [@Pandoranoid](#): > > Saying that gay OR straight people do or do not have ‘gaydar’ is like saying that black people are good dancers or jews know how to bargain-hunt. No, it is not a racial stereotype. But that would be a discussion for another thread. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/134 "2010-03-16T23:01:07Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Kelsey Grammar moreso after Cheers. Every character on Fraiser except Daphne looked ragingly gay, including Bulldog. Even for Hollywood it was a bit much. Four members of **Frasier** INCLUDING Bulldog were gay. Niles - David Hyde Pierce - gay - [David Hyde Pierce - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hyde_Pierce) Martin - John Mahoney - gay - [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is\_the\_actor\_John\_Mahoney\_gay](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_the_actor_John_Mahoney_gay) Bulldog - Dan Butler - gay - [Dan Butler - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Butler) Gil - Edward Hibbert - gay - [Edward Hibbert - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hibbert) ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/135 "2010-03-16T23:50:45Z")
I keep forgetting that Tom Hollander is straight. ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/136 "2010-03-17T01:01:10Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > No, it is not a racial stereotype. But that would be a discussion for another thread. Nor was I suggesting that it was; that wouldn’t make much sense. I was merely pointing out that the kind of logic (or lack of logic) involved is similar. The most important part of my point is the part you didn’t quote. Suggesting that autistic people have lousy gaydar might have some basis in a factual understanding of what it means to be autistic-among other things, autistics are notoriously bad at ‘reading’ the emotions/intents of others. I know of no scientific data suggesting that either gays or straights are better at interpreting body language or whatever it is one uses to suss someone’s orientation via ‘gaydar’. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/137 "2010-03-17T01:05:57Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > My cousin dated Schwimmer for years. He’s definitely not gay. Did any of your cousins date Matthew Perry by any chance? And if so were they he-cousins or she-cousins?😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/138 "2010-03-17T12:37:56Z")
> [@Mooch](#): > > He’s always struck me as a genuinely nice guy. While good restaurant chefs need a little bastard in them, and he was a good chef, he is a good and generous person. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/139 "2010-03-17T14:18:52Z")
I’m a bit surprised to find out that [Kevin Kline](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Kline) is straight (or at least married to a woman). (Not so much for A FISH CALLED WANDA as for PIRATES OF PENZANCE). ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024/140 "2010-03-17T14:36:01Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > While good restaurant chefs need a little bastard in them . . . I thought you said he was straight? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-were-straight/530024.md?page=8)