Wentworth Miller: I was feeding a fantasy by pretending to be straight
Actor Wentworth Miller has spoken out about his decision to remain in the closet for years, saying he was “feeding a fantasy” by doing so.
The 42-year-old British-born American star, who featured in TV series Prison Break from 2005 until 2009, came out as gay last year in an open letter, after he was invited to the St Petersburg International Film Festival in Russia.
He wrote: “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.”
Speaking to Details this week, he said: “I feel more fully expressed. 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’.
“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.”
On whether he worried about alienating his female fans by coming out, he said: “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.”
