Rupert Everett: Hollywood shunned me after I came out as gay
Thu. December 30, 2010 6:40 AM by GoPride.com News Staff
everett at the 2007 sydney gay and lesbian mardi gras
photo credit // vicki neave/wikipedia.com
Los Angeles, CA -
British actor Rupert Everett tells the UK's BBC Radio that he stopped getting work in Hollywood after he came out as gay.
"I just never got a job there, and I never got a job here, after coming out. I did a couple of films, I was very lucky at the beginning of my career... and then, I never had another job here for ten years probably and I moved to Europe," the actor told BBC Radio in an interview this week.
Everett, probably best known for his role as Julia Roberts' friendly boss in 'My Best Friend's Wedding', says Hollywood is "an extremely conservative world" that "pretends to be a liberal world."
The 51-year-old Everett said he felt, "show business is ideally suited for heterosexuals, it's a very heterosexual business, it's run mostly by heterosexual men, and there's a kind of pecking order."
Discussing the trend of heterosexual actors playing gay characters, the outspoken actor said: "A lot of straight actors are actively searching for gay roles because it is something different to do. I think that's fine but that does mean the gay actor who used to just get to play the gay part- like me-has been reduced to drag really."
Earlier this week in an interview with The Advocate, actor Richard Chamberlain advised gay actors not to come out because of the tremendous amount of homophobia in the showbiz industry.
"I just never got a job there, and I never got a job here, after coming out. I did a couple of films, I was very lucky at the beginning of my career... and then, I never had another job here for ten years probably and I moved to Europe," the actor told BBC Radio in an interview this week.
Everett, probably best known for his role as Julia Roberts' friendly boss in 'My Best Friend's Wedding', says Hollywood is "an extremely conservative world" that "pretends to be a liberal world."
The 51-year-old Everett said he felt, "show business is ideally suited for heterosexuals, it's a very heterosexual business, it's run mostly by heterosexual men, and there's a kind of pecking order."
Discussing the trend of heterosexual actors playing gay characters, the outspoken actor said: "A lot of straight actors are actively searching for gay roles because it is something different to do. I think that's fine but that does mean the gay actor who used to just get to play the gay part- like me-has been reduced to drag really."
Earlier this week in an interview with The Advocate, actor Richard Chamberlain advised gay actors not to come out because of the tremendous amount of homophobia in the showbiz industry.