A decade ago if people came out, they normally did it with a big, splashy interview where they had to explain everything and where it was controlled enough they could guarantee a sympathetic hearing. Nowadays the tendency is to go far subtler, just slipping it in as if it were the most natural thing in the world – as it should be.
The latest to go down that route is Jim Parsons, best known as the Emmy winning star of The Big Bang Theory, who has officially come out in a New York Times profile. It has been an open secret for a long time, but this is the first time it’s been publicly acknowledged. The coming out is a single sentence, where Patrick Healy writes that the play, “The Normal Heart resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship…”
Although that sounds like he’s being outed, Parsons undoubtedly had to agree to this being included. It’s a similar coming out to David Hyde Pierce, whose outing also came in a line in an NYT piece. Likewise Matt Bomer and Zachary Quinto has also subtly come out, dropping it into interviews without particularly making a big to-do about it.
The NYT profile comes just ahead of Parson taking the lead in a Broadway revival of Harvey, during his summer hiatus from Big Bang Theory.
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