Troye Sivan almost came out to this gay British actor before he told his parents
Troye Sivan has revealed he nearly came out to Sir Ian McKellen before his family. (Getty/Laurent KOFFEL)
Queer pop star Troye Sivan has revealed that he almost came out to a renowned British actor long before he came out to the rest of the world.
Troye Sivan came out publicly as gay via a YouTube video aged 18 in August 2013, saying that he refused to be “ashamed” of his sexuality.
In the same video, he explained that he had come out to his family exactly three years earlier, in 2010.
However, in a recent interview with GQ Germany ahead of the release of his upcoming third album Something To Give Each Other, the 28-year-old star revealed that British The Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen was the first person he wanted to share his sexuality with.
In 2010, Sivan starred alongside McKellen in an Australian touring production of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot. While working together, Sivan contemplated opening up to McKellen, who is widely considered one of the most well known, out gay actors and activists in British history.
“I hadn’t come out to my parents at the time, but then I thought about telling Ian McKellen. Somehow I had the feeling he noticed,” Sivan told GQ.
“I wanted to talk to someone about it so badly and he was so kind.”
While Sivan didn’t end up coming out as gay to McKellen at the time, the now 84-year-old screen and stage star may have inspired the then-15-year-old singer to open up to his family, with Sivan telling his parents less than three months after working with McKellen.
Troye Sivan has put his sexuality front and centre during his current music era. From the risqué music video for lead single and summer bop “Rush”, to posing nude to confirm the Something To Give Each Other track list, Sivan is championing queer intimacy.
The star recently spoke openly about feeling comfortable in his own skin, writing on Instagram Stories: “I like my body and I think that makes some people uncomfortable.
“Don’t ask me about this in interviews. I don’t want to talk about it unless I want to talk about it, which I think is fair,” he added.
Something To Give Each Other is out on 13 October.
