In a recent interview, producer Ryan
Murphy discussed his parents' attempt to “cure” him of his
homosexuality.
Murphy, who is raising three children
with his husband David Miller, is best known for such LGBT-inclusive
shows as Glee, Pose, and Hollywood and such
films as The Boys in the Band.
Murphy is currently promoting his
latest project, The Prom, a film adaptation of the Tony
Award-nominated musical. It arrives on Netflix on December 11.
In the musical, four washed-up Broadway
stars travel to Edgewater, a small fictional town in Indiana, looking
to help a lesbian teen who was not allowed to take her girlfriend to
the high school prom. The actors claim they are there to help the
teen, Emma, but are mostly pursuing headlines.
(Related: Ryan
Murphy's The
Prom
arrives on Netflix in December.)
When asked by The Hollywood Reporter
about his own prom, Murphy, 55, said that the topic was very
“emotional” for him.
"I didn’t have that. If only I
would have had this feeling of acceptance and belonging, how
different my life would have been,” Murphy
said, referring to the film.
"I felt that when we were shooting
it. I went to my junior prom and the next day my parents took me to a
psychiatrist to cure me. Thankfully, I had a really good shrink, who
at the end of our several sessions called my parents in and said,
'You have a choice here: You can try and change him and lose him, or
you can accept him and love him.'”
"I was very blessed. When I went
to my senior prom, I had been through that but I still took a
girlfriend because I wasn’t allowed to come in with my fellow. The
prom is very emotional for me, as you can tell,” he said.
The Prom stars Meryl Streep,
Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells, Ariana DeBose,
Keegan-Michael Key, Kerry Washington, and Kevin Chamberlin. Newcomer
Jo Ellen Pellman stars as Emma Nolan.