Actor Gordon Thomson, who is best known for playing Adam Carrington on ABC's prime-time soap opera Dynasty, has publicly come out gay at 72.

Thomson told The Daily Beast's Tim Teeman that he assumed people knew about his sexuality.

“It’s not something I’ve ever announced,” Thomson said. “I’m assuming that people know, and now that I’m my age that’s fine. I don’t go out of my way because it’s my generation, I think. I’m probably as homophobic as any gay man alive because of my background.”

The Canadian actor explained that he kept closeted because of his generation's attitude toward sexual minorities.

“When I was growing up it [homosexuality] was a crime, and then classified as a mental illness. It was not until Pierre Trudeau was prime minister of Canada when I was 23, 24 years old, did it cease being a crime, and it was not until I was nearly 30 that it stopped being classified as a mental illness in the U.S. So you’re dealing with that. And the shame, the breathtaking lack of self-esteem, has only just begun to seep out of my soul,” Thomson said.