GENERAL FEATURES
Top Ten Out TV Stars
To celebrate the heartfelt coming out of Kath and Kim star, Magda Szubanski, we look back on the ten biggest TV stars to come out of the closet.
Any omissions? We'd love you to comment below and let us know!
1. Ellen Degeneres
In April 1997, Ellen wrote her coming out into her sitcom, Ellen, which was up with a Time magazine interview.
"I never wanted to be 'the lesbian actress'," she said. "I never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community. Ever. I did it for my own truth."
2. Neil Patrick Harris
In a People magazine interview in November 2006, How I Met Your Mother star, Neil Patrick Harris said: "I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."
3. John Barrowman
Torchwood star, Barrowman began his career presenting BBC Children's Saturday morning show Live & Kicking, but only came out when he started playing bisexual Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who. He has a civil union with his partner, Scott Gill, and he objects to the term ‘marriage' for his partnership, saying "why would I want a 'marriage' from a belief system that hates me?"
4. Michael Cashman
A man before his time, Michael Cashman blazed a trail by coming out during his time on Eastenders 26 years ago. He is the founding chair of the Stonewall Group and he was awarded a Special Service Award in 1988 for his campaigning work by the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights and the Gay Medical Association. Michael is an MEP and in 2006 he registered a civil partnership with Paul Cottingham, his partner of over 20 years.
5. Jane Lynch
With appearances in more than 100 movies and television shows to her credit, Glee star Jane Lynch has been one of the most candid out-of-the-closet gay actors in modern Hollywood. Lynch credits Ellen DeGeneres as an inspiration. "You were at the height of your fame and you came out," she said to DeGeneres. "That just blazed the trail for me. It really did. It made it so much easier for me, what you did."
6. Rosie O'Donnell
Rosie began her journey out of the closet in January 2002 when she guest starred as a lesbian on Will & Grace. She followed it up by announcing it officially at a comedy benefit. "I'm a dyke!," she told the crowd. "I don't know why people make such a big deal about the gay thing ... People are confused, they're shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody."
7. Cynthia Nixon
In 2004, when Sex and The City was in its sixth season, Cynthia Nixon came out when she began living with her now-fiancée Christine Marinoni.
"In terms of sexual orientation I don't really feel I've changed ... I'd been with men all my life, and I'd never fallen in love with a woman. But when I did, it didn't seem so strange. I'm just a woman in love with another woman."
She caused controversy earlier this month by saying that she chose her sexual orientation. "I understand that for many people it's not, but for me it's a choice, and you don't get to define my gayness for me," she told the New York Times Magazine.
8. Sean Hayes
Four years after he finished playing super-gay Jack McFarland on Will & Grace, Sean Hayes told the Advocate: "I never have had a problem saying who I am... I am who I am. I was never in, as they say. Never."
9. Zachary Quinto
In an new interview with New York Magazine in October 2011 Zachary Quinto, aka Sylar on the TV show Heroes and Spock in the 2009 movie, Star Trek simply mentioned that he was gay as part of a discussion about his role in the Broadway revival of Aids play, Angels in America.
"[A]s a gay man, it made me feel like I-there's still so much work to be done," he said. "There's still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed. The undercurrent of that fear and that, you know, insidiousness still is swarming. It's still all around us."
10. Portia De Rossi
Ally McBeal and Arrested Development star, Portia De Rossi is married to Ellen DeGeneres. In a 2010 interview on Good Morning America, she explained that as a young actress, she was fearful of being exposed as a lesbian. "My feelings for Ellen overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian," she said. "I had to be with her, and I just figured I`d deal with the other stuff later."