Director Lee Daniels says his father severely beat him at the age
of 5 for wearing his mother's pumps.
Daniels, who received a best director Oscar nomination for the
film Precious, discussed coming out gay with interviewer Larry
King.
“When did you know you were gay?” King asked.
“I was five,” Daniels answered.
“Five, that I knew something wasn't right,” Daniels expanded.
“My dad was playing cards one Sunday with his cop friends and I put
on my mother's red pumps, and walked down the stairs. And he went,
'What's going on? What's happening?' Oh my God. And then I got
beat. He beat me severely for it. He beat me really bad.”
“But that didn't stop me, because the following Sunday I put on
her blue high-heel shoes and walked down the stairs, this time with
her purse,” he added. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
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