Actress Lana Parrilla, best known for
playing The Evil Queen, Regina Mills, on the ABC series Once Upon
A Time, talked about the gay people in her life during Saturday's
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) 19th annual Cleveland Gala
held at Cleveland State University's The Wolstein Center.
The 35-year-old Parrilla was the
featured speaker at the fundraiser.
Parrilla, a Brooklyn, New York native,
told the crowd that her older, gay cousin was “smart, funny, and he
looked like Patrick Swayze.”
“Looking back, he was probably my
first schoolgirl crush,” she noted.
She said her family had a hard time
accepting her cousin's sexual orientation but that eventually they
came around.
“He married and has 2 children,”
Parrilla said. “And my entire family is actively involved in their
lives.”
Parrilla also pledged her support for
the legalization of gay marriage. (The video is embedded on this
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