In a recent PEOPLE interview, actor
Juan Pablo Di Pace talked about his recent coming out.
The 39-year-old actor is best known in
the United States for playing the role of Fernando, Kimmy Gibbler's
estranged husband, on Netflix's Fuller House, a spin-off
series of Full House. Di Pace, who was born in Buenos Aires,
began his acting career in the United Kingdom. He also is known for
playing Nicolas Trevino in the TNT drama Dallas.
He announced he's gay during a recently
uploaded Ted Talk titled “The Story of Your Life.”
(Related: Fuller
House
star Juan Pablo Di Pace says he's gay.)
Di Pace told PEOPLE that he's been out
to “the most important people” in his life for 20 years.
“In the work life, public life, it
just felt like I was still omitting a piece of information because
there was some kind of shame or fear there, and so, I saw this as an
opportunity to also heal myself,” Di Pace said.
“It has to do with culture, the
country, the families, there's places in this country that it's still
not cool – places like Middle Eastern countries where you can get
killed like it's not a done deal. It's not fixed yet,” he said.
Di Pace added that his parents, who are
Catholic, at first “weren't on board with it, because they thought
it was not natural,” but have since come around.
“My parents are everything to me and
to see the growth in them, it's a beautiful, beautiful development,”
he
said.