'Love, Simon' star Nick Robinson says brother came out gay while filming movie

Nick Robinson, the star of Love, Simon, says his brother came out gay while he was shooting the film.

In the film, the 22-year-old Robinson plays 17-year-old Simon, who begins corresponding with another closeted high school student. Love, Simon from out director Greg Berlanti opens Friday, March 16.

During an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' daytime talk show to promote the movie, Robinson revealed that his brother came out "around the same time we started filming."

When DeGeneres asked whether his brother was inspired to come out by the film, Robinson answered that he was uncertain.

"I'm not sure," Robinson said. "I think that he had been dealing with this for a long time and this was – I think the timing was sort of coincidental. But one of the best things that came out of this movies is just being able to talk to him. I think that's the strength of a film like this is that it starts conversations, and I hope that it can do that for more people."

DeGeneres also asked whether Robinson hesitated at playing a gay character.

"It was a conversation with Greg [Berlanti], our director," he answered. "We went back and forth. We talked about it. With a project like this, and especially today, there's been so much progress in the last 20 years, a lot of which is thanks to you and what you've done. If you hadn't come out when you did we might not be having this movie now."

(Related: Keiynan Lonsdale says he decided to come out while filming Love, Simon.)