Nathan Laneis recalling how the lateRobin Williamssupported him on a press tour for their 1996 movieThe Birdcagewhen the actor was still “not prepared at all” to come out as gay.
“I just wanted to talk about [how] I finally got a big part in a movie and I didn’t want to make it about my sexuality,” Lane adds in the video. “Although it was sort of unavoidable because of the nature of the film and the character.”
The actor, who received aGolden Globe nominationin 1997 for his role inThe Birdcage, went on to recall “this famous moment when we had to do Oprah” and he approached Williams before the appearance, worried thatOprah Winfreymight prompt him to discuss his sexuality on television.
“I don’t think Oprah was trying to out me, but I said to Robin beforehand: ‘I’m not prepared. I’m so scared of going out there and talking to Oprah. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television, I’m not ready,’ " Lane recalls in the clip. “And he said, ‘Oh, it’s alright, don’t worry about it, we don’t have to talk about it, we won’t talk about it.’ "
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Sure enough, Lane describes how Williams “sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah and goes off on a tangent and protects me, because he was a saint,” when the talk show host asked Lane about being “typecast” after playing a drag performer in the film.
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Video of Lane and Williams' 1996 appearance onTheOprah WinfreyShow, available onYouTube, shows Winfrey, now 69, asking Lane whether he was “afraid of taking that role and being like typecast and people forever saying, ‘Are you? Are you not?’ " before Williams interjects and does his own impression of the host’s question, allowing Lane time to form an answer.
“I just wasn’t ready to do that, to make this whole thing… the public side of it, the celebrity side,” Lane recalls to Geist in theSunday TODAYclip. “‘Oh, now you’re a public figure and you have to make some sort of public statement about it.’ I was terrified. I wasn’t ready to do that.”
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
“It’s great that everyone now feels comfortable, but homophobia is alive and well and there are plenty of gay people who are still hiding,” he adds.
Lanepublicly came out as gayin a 1999 interview withThe Advocate, in which he referencedTheOprah WinfreyShowappearance in question and said that Williams “jumped in and protected me.” The actor latermarriedhusbandDevlin Elliottin Nov. 2015.
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source: people.com
