AMERICANALMANAC (Sadie Smith) - Neil Patrick Harris says gossip bloggers forced his hand on coming out in 2006
Actor Neil Patrick Harris is opening up about the pressure campaign that pushed him to publicly come out as gay nearly two decades ago, and the role celebrity gossip bloggers played in making the decision for him. Harris, now 53 and a father of two, told the "Great Company with Jamie Laing" podcast that his […] The post Neil Patrick Harris says gossip bloggers forced his hand on coming out in 2006 appeared first on American Almanac .
Actor Neil Patrick Harris is opening up about the pressure campaign that pushed him to publicly come out as gay nearly two decades ago, and the role celebrity gossip bloggers played in making the decision for him. Harris, now 53 and a father of two, told the "Great Company with Jamie Laing" podcast that his 2006 statement to People magazine was less a personal milestone than an act of damage control. Bloggers at the time were running blind-item guessing games about closeted actors, and Harris said he feared becoming the next name dragged into the open against his will. The interview, first reported by USA Today , offers a blunt look at how the celebrity media ecosystem of the mid-2000s treated private lives as public property, and how…Open
AI:Actor Neil Patrick Harris revealed that his 2006 decision to come out as gay via People magazine was a calculated move for damage control rather than a personal milestone. Speaking on the "Great Company with Jamie Laing" podcast, Harris explained that he felt cornered by relentless gossip bloggers and a publicist's botched denial regarding his sexuality, which sparked fears of being targeted in "blind items." He admitted he chose to preemptively control the narrative to avoid having his private life exposed by digital vultures. Former celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has since characterized his own aggressive pursuit of Harris as a "witch hunt" while attempting to make amends for his past behavior.Open