As the big screen adaption of Land
of the Lost opens nationwide, seventies teen heartthrob and star
of the original TV series Wesley Eure is talking for the first time
about his sexuality.
In an interview with AfterElton.com,
Eure spoke candidly about the Hollywood closet of the 70's, his
affair with Richard Chamberlain and being fired for being gay.
“I got fired from Days of Our
Lives for being gay,” Eure said.
“I knew Fox and NBC were run by gay
men at the time, but what was odd about the industry at the time, it
was amazing how the gay men were perpetuating the damage.”
“It was a horrible time in Hollywood,
being gay. It was horrible. I was on the cover of Tiger Beat
and all those a lot, and they'd do those 'Win a Date With Wesley' and
'Who's Wesley Dating?' It was so disingenuous,” he said.
On dating Richard Chamberlain, Eure
said their affair lasted about a year.
“Richard and I had a great time
together,” Eure recalled. “When it was over, it was enormously
sad. I was brokenhearted. I remember we broke up and I was on Days
of Our Lives, I couldn't stop shaking. I was crying so hard.”
Eure, who played teenage son Will in
the original Lost TV series, filmed a cameo for the movie
adaptation which was cut when the ending was changed.
At 57, the former heartthrob is happily
partnered (to a mysterious former Yankee player named Richard) and
living in Palm Springs, California, where he's become an established
AIDS and breast cancer charities fundraiser.
On the Net: Eure's complete coming out
interview is at AfterElton.com.