Netflix star Connor Jessup was inspired to come out after falling in love with boyfriend Miles Heizer
Connor Jessup sent Miles Heizer a belated Valentine’s message. (Instagram/Connor Jessup)
Professional twink Connor Jessup revealed the adorable journey of self-acceptance and how his boyfriend Miles Heizer sparked his decision to come out as gay.
The star of Netflix’s fantasy show Locke & Key and budding 25-year-old heartthrob told Attitude that he has been dating 13 Reasons Why actor Miles Heizer for “about 18 months”.
After going Instagram public earlier this month, the actor, who plays the broody Tyler Locke, opened up to the magazine about why he came out when he did.
Oh, and he wore a white t-shirt in a bathtub for Attitude‘s April issue. Gay rights!
‘I can’t imagine that anyone would care about my personal life.’
“One of the sparks at the beginning of the fuse [for coming out], was that I fell in love,” Connor described.
“When you’re happy, you want to be happy publicly, and it made me think about the whole construction of my life in a way that I had been avoiding.”
Last year, Jessup posted a winding post on Instagram where he came out as gay.
“I’m a white, cis man from an upper-middle-class liberal family,” he wrote in the post.
“Acceptance was never a question. But still, suspended in all this privilege, I balked.
“It took me years.
(Attitude)
“It’s ongoing. I’m saying this now because I have conspicuously not said it before. I’ve been out for years in my private life, but never quite publicly.”
Recounting the post, Jessup said: “It was more of a relief than I was expecting.
“I’ve played a few gay characters in the past, and the ways that I would bend and contort to answer questions without actually saying anything, and to not lie but also not to say anything personal.
“I would talk a lot about fluidity and sexuality as a spectrum – of course, all that’s true, but I was using it in a way to not have it reflect on me. But also I’m an easily embarrassed person and I can’t imagine that anyone would care about my personal life.
“It seemed so presumptuous to make a post and assume that people would want to take a moment out of their time to read it. It felt almost arrogant and that held me back, but eventually, I decided that it was easier to do it than to not do it.”
Connor Jessup: ‘I think I was afraid [of love].’
Connor Jessup gave the gays everything they wanted by appearing in a wet white t-shirt for the cover of Attitude. (Attitude)
Jessup never actively looked for love, he said, often saying that he was too focused on work and friends to fall for someone.
“But also,” he said, “I think I was afraid.
“There’s still this phenomenon where you can be out like I was, but in my day-to-day life, I wasn’t doing anything that would make people think I was gay.
“I wasn’t in a relationship and I wasn’t looking to be because I was ignoring that part of me. I put myself on pause for a while.
“So, I had relationships, but nothing like the one I’m in right now,” he added.
“This is my first time being in love.”
Jessup met Heizer after he acted on an internet crush and direct messaged the 25-year-old actor on Instagram. He later told the New York Times that a couple of glasses of red wine may have been involved in the decision.
