Gay & Proud of It! Celebs Who Have Come Out

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These gay celebrities have bravely announced their sexuality to the world.


Jason Collins

Professional basketball player Jason Collins is ready to share who he really is with the world. “I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay,"he confessed on April 29, via Sports Illustrated. "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation." Collins added that he's aware that his coming out may not be easy. "Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start," he said. "It all comes down to education. I'll sit down with any player who's uneasy about my coming out. Being gay is not a choice. This is the tough road and at times the lonely road."

Victor Garber

During a recent interview, Canadian actor Victor Garber was asked to comment on the fact that his Wikipedia lists his longtime partner as male model/artist Rainer Andreesen. The Argo star"seemed surprised"by the question, but replied, "I don't really talk about it but everybody knows. He's going to be out here with me for the SAG Awards." In an April 2012 interview with Canada's Forever Young News (which seemingly flew under the radar), Garber beamed when asked about his proudest personal achievements: "My relationships with my family and my friends. My companion Rainer Andreesen and I have been together almost 13 years in Greenwich Village. We both love New York."

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Jodie Foster
The child star turned A-list actress has always been intensely personal regarding her private life and the paternity of her two sons (both of whom she gave birth to). She never officially commented on her relationship with film producer Cydney Bernard until she thanked her during a speech in 2007. (The pair reportedly split the next year.) But it wasn't until the 2013 Golden Globes that Jodie Foster publically and proudly acknowledged her sexuality: "I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago in the Stone Age," she said in her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award. "But now apparently every celebrity is expected to expose the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show." The moving speech brought the crowd to tears.

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Anderson Cooper
After years of keeping mum about his personal life, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper finally came out on July 2. "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud," the Anderson 360 host wrote in an open letter posted on the Daily Beast. While Cooper said that his family, friends and colleagues (and, let's face it, everyone else) had always known he was gay, he hadn't publicly acknowledged the fact before because "in a perfect world, I don't think it's anyone else's business." But, inspired by an Entertainment Weekly story about the "casual coming-out" of other celebrities, Cooper said he realized that there "is value in standing up and being counted." And for that, we applaud him.

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Frenchie Davis
American Idol alum and The Voice semifinalist Frenchie Davis hadn't openly spoken about her dating life until a June 21 profile in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in which revealed that she's in a one-year relationship... with another woman. "I wasn't out before the relationship, but I wasn't in," Davis, who has performed on Broadway in Rent, told the newspaper. "I dated men and women, though lesbians weren't feeling the bisexual thing. Now I'm in love with a woman I think I can be with forever." No word on who that woman is -- but she sounds like a lucky lady.

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Jim Parsons
Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper may be the epitome of bluntness, but the man who portrays him, Jim Parsons, is a bit more subtle. Two-time Emmy winner Parsons quietly came out in a May 23 New York Times profile that -- three-quarters of the way through -- casually explained the actor's reason for taking a role in the Broadway revival of The Normal Heart, about gay New Yorkers grappling with AIDS in the 1980s. "The Normal Heart resonated with him on a few levels," reads the profile. "Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said." Talk about burying the lede.

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Matt Bomer
Matt Bomer, the hunky star of USA's White Collar and the male-stripper movie Magic Mike, no doubt broke a lot of female -- and male -- hearts when he publicly confirmed in February 2012 that he's gay and in a commited relationship, thanking his partner, publicist Simon Halls, and their three sons during a speech at the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards (where he was being honored for his role in the fight against HIV/AIDS). "I'd really especially like to thank my beautiful family: Simon, Kit, Walker, Henry," said Bomer at the end of his emotional speech. "Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment."

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Ellen DeGeneres
The actress and daytime talk-show superstar used her own sitcom -- ABC's Ellen -- as a platform for coming out back in April 1997. DeGeneres announced her sexuality and that of her character in "The Puppy Episode" -- and followed tht with a media blitz: an Oprah appearance, a Diane Sawyer interview and a Time magazine cover story. "When I decided to have my character on the show come out, I knew I was going to have to come out, too," she told Time. "I never wanted to be the lesbian actress. I never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community. Ever. I did it for my own truth." DeGeneres famously dated actress Anne Heche from 1997-2000 before marrying actress Portia de Rossi in August 2008.

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Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris has been pretty busy since his teen star days on Doogie Howser, M.D. He's starred in Broadway musicals, stolen the show in the Harold & Kumar movies, hosted the Tony and Emmy Awards, and won legions of fans with he legen -- wait for it -- dary role as Barney on TV's How I Met Your Mother. But perhaps his most meaningful role has been that of gay rights advocate. The actor, who is father to 1-year-old twins Gideon and Harper (born via gestational surrogate) with longtime partner David Burtka, came out to People magazine in 2006, saying, "I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

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Rosie O'Donnell
Actress and stand-up comedian Rosie O'Donnell may have once pledged her love to Tom Cruise on the Rosie O'Donnell Show, but by January 2002 she was ready to profess her love of women when she came out during part of her comedy set at an Ovarian Cancer Research benefit at Caroline's Comedy Club. "I'm a dyke!" she proclaimed to the audience. "I don't know why people make such a big deal about the gay thing... People are confused, they're shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody." O'Donnell has since become a staunch LGBT and gay adoption advocate, marrying partner Kelli Carpenter in 2004 in an act of defiance against then-President George W. Bush. Carpenter and O'Donnell, who have four children together (three adopted and one conceived via artificial insemination) split in 2007, and Rosie is now enganged to New York City headhunter Michelle Rounds.

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Ricky Martin
The suave Latin singer captured hearts as a member of boy band Menudo, subsequently rocketing to stardom with a successful solo career thanks to his English crossover hit "Livin' La Vida Loca." Although he amassed a huge female following with his love songs and hip-twisting movies -- and despite dating Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba on and off for 14 years -- rumors about Martin's sexuality swirled. After years of evading the question in the media, Ricky finally addressed it head on with a March 2010 blog post on his official website. "This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now," Martin wrote. "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am." Martin, who in 2008 welcomed twin sons Matteo and Valentino via surrogate mother, was reportedly married to his longtime boyfriend, economist Carlos Gonzalez Abella, in New York City in January 2012 (though he has yet to confirm the news).

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Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon and her Sex and the City alter-ego Miranda Hobbs seemed to have one very big thing in common: a love of men. Hobbs entertained her fair share of of male suitors during the HBO show's run, and Nixon was in a relationship with English professor Danny Mozes with whom she has two children, from 1998-2003. In 2004, however, Nixon entered a relationship with education activist Christine Marinoni. At the time, she told the NY Daily News, "My private life is private... but at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy." In 2007, she opened up a bit more about her sexuality to U.K. newspaper The Telegraph. "In terms of sexual orientation I don't really feel I've changed," she said. "I'm just a woman in love with another woman." And, on May 27, 2012, she became a woman married to another woman, saying "I do" to Marinoni in New York City.

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Zachary Quinto
The Star Trek and Heroes star has been an active supporter of the LGBT community for years, appearing in a 2009 play protesting Proposition 8, and lending help to the Trevor Project and the It Gets Better Project -- yet his official coming-out to New York magazine in October 2011 still made headlines. While discussing the tragic suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer, Quinto told the magazine, "As a gay man, I look at that and say there's a hopelessness that surrounds it, but as a human being I look at it and say, 'Why? Where's this disparity coming from, and why can't we as a culture and society dig deeper to examine that?' We're terrified of facing ourselves." He later explained his choice to go public with his sexuality with a post on his blog: "In light of jamey's death - it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it - is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality."

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Meredith Baxter
Best known as mom to Michael J. Fox's Alex P. Keaton on the beloved '80s TV show Family Ties, Meredith Baxter has five children and has been married (to men) three times. But nine years after her third divorce, in December 2009, she appeared on the Today show and pronounced to Matt Lauer (and the world) that she was a lesbian. "I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition," she told Lauer. "Some people would say, well, you're living a lie and, you know, the truth is not at all. This has only been for the past seven years." The actress, who detailed her decision to come out -- as well as her battle with breast cancer and her recovery from addiction -- in the 2011 memoir Untied, has been in a relationship with general contractor Nancy Locke since 2005.

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T.R. Knight
As Dr. George O'Malley on TV’s Grey's Anatomy, T.R. Knight certainly had his share of dramatic romances with the show's female staff. But after an on-set altercation between costars Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey -- in which Washington allegedly insulted Knight's sexual orientation -- hit the press, the actor revealed that he's gay. "I guess there have been a few questions about my sexuality, and I'd like to quiet any unnecessary rumors that may be out there," Knight said in an October 2006 statement to People. "While I prefer to keep my personal life private, I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me."

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Portia de Rossi
Ally McBeal and Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi came out to her mother at 16, but the rest of her family and her Ally McBeal cast mates didn't learn the truth about her sexuality until 2004. That's when paparazzi photos of de Rossi kissing singer Francesca Gregorini (whom she dated from 2000-04) were published, effectively outing her as a lesbian. Still, she didn't publicly affirm that she was gay until after she began dating talk-show host Ellen Degeneres in 2005. And, in an interview with the The Advocate, she admitted that her outing by the paparazzi was something of a blessing. "Every single family member... every person I worked with, everybody knew all at once," she said. "There was no turning back, and it was a relief." De Rossi and DeGeneres were married in August 2008.

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Clay Aiken
The season 2 American Idol and season 5 Celebrity Apprentice runner-up has had a lucrative singing career -- including six studio albums -- since first entering the spotlight in 2003. But it wasn't until September 2008 -- shortly after the birth of his son Parker, whom he fathered via artificial insemination with friend Jaymes Foster -- that he confirmed he was gay. "It was the first decision I made as a father," he told People magazine. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that." He is now an outspoken member of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), urging an end to anti-gay bullying.

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George Takei
George Takei's role as the beloved Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek TV series (and subsequent films and video games) has influenced generations of viewers -- but his status as a sci-fi icon reached a brand new audience in 2005 when he revealed that he was gay and had been in an 18-year relationship with Brad Altman (whom he married in 2008). "You know, it's not really coming out, which suggests opening a door and stepping through," Takei told Frontiers magazine in October 2005. "It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen... So, I've been 'open,' but I have not talked to the press." In 2006, Takei embarked on a nationwide "Equality Trek" to speak about his life as a gay Japanese American, and he currently serves as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign "Coming Out Project."

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Jane Lynch
Glee's Sue Sylvester has been a recognizable staple on the comedy scene for years, with notable roles in Best in Show, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Talladega Nights -- but she was openly gay long before becoming a recognizable star. The actress married her girlfriend Lara Embry in 2010, and credits Ellen DeGeneres with helping her come out. "I used to lay in bed and go, 'How will I come out, or will I come out?" Lynch told DeGeneres when she appeared on her show in September 2010. " You were at the height of your fame and you came out. And that just blazed a trail for me. It really did. It made it so much easier for me, what you did."

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George Michael
Chart-topping British musician George Michael has endured his fair share of scandal throughout his 30-year career, including multiple drug and public sex charges: It was his arrest in 1998 for engaging in a lewd act with another man -- an undercover cop, to be exact -- in a Bevery Hills toilet that answered the question of his sexual orientation. But even before that, he was often romantically linked to men, most notably businessman Kenny Goss -- with whom he shared a relationship from 1996-2009. Though it wasn't a surprise when he finally talked openly about being gay, he told The Independent in 2007, "I'd been out to a lot of people since 19. I wish to God it had happened then. I don't think I would have the same career -- my ego might not have been satisfied in some areas -- but I think I would have been a happier man."

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Amber Heard
The gorgeous Drive Angry and The Rum Diary actress has enjoyed screen time with A-list leading men (Nicolas Cage! Johnny Depp!), but last December she announced that her off-screen partner of choice is a lady. Heard attended GLAAD's 25th anniversary event with girlfriend Tasya van Ree. "I hate the idea of a label just as much as anyone else but I'm with who I'm with, I love who I love," she told AfterEllen.com at the event. "I think that the injustice of people staying in the closet is more than I can bear with a clear conscience." That said, Heard admitted to Metro UK in February 2011 that she doesn't exclusively like women. "I have had successful relationships with men and now a woman," she told the paper. "I love who I love, it's the person that matters."