Sir Ian McKellen said in an interview
with Anderson Cooper that he has no regrets over coming out gay, and
encouraged others to do the same.
“Did you find coming out publicly …
Was there any negative to it for you?” Cooper asked McKellen on his
Anderson Live
daytime talk show.
“No,” McKellen answered.
“My movie career took off. I hadn't
had one before really,” said McKellen, who appeared on the show to
pitch his new movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
“I've never met a gay person who
regrets coming out,” he added to applause from the studio audience.
“I'm sure you've found the same: You're more at ease with your
loved ones, your family and extended family, and your friends and
your employers, your employees. Everybody's happy because they know
where they are. It's out in the open, and honesty is the best
policy.”
Cooper, who came out gay last year,
agreed: “It makes everyone else more comfortable.”
“The last 20 years in your country
and in ours, the ease with which people accept gay people has changed
enormously,” said McKellen, who is British. (The video is embedded
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