Ian McKellen is 85 and has lost count of the number of times someone has thanked him for speaking out.
He came out of the closet in 1988, at the age of 48, in a BBC radio interview. Since then, he has become one of the world’s most beloved actors — Gandalf, Magneto — without ever hiding who he was. Now, in an interview with The Times of London, he said something that sums up those 37 years: ‘I have never met anyone who came out of the closet and regretted it.’
McKellen acknowledged that he knows several actors who continue to hide their sexuality for fear of losing roles or followers. His advice was direct: ‘Don’t listen to your teachers or advisers, listen to your heart.’ He also lamented that to this day no openly gay actor has won the Oscar for Best Actor, and that neither football nor British politics has figures who dare to show themselves as they truly are.