OHMYGOSSIP — Daniel Brocklebank has admitted coming out as gay hurt his Hollywood career.
The 41-year-old actor – who plays vicar Billy Mayhew in ‘Coronation Street’ – came out when he was 18, and he has told how his agent warned him “it would affect work”.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I came out publicly just after ‘Shakespeare in Love’ was released, so I would have been 18.
“I remember my management in Los Angeles trying to convince me not to come out because they said it would affect work – and it did.
“I stopped being screen-tested for the heterosexual male leads and I was either the gay best friend or the character parts. It was more in America than in Britain, but it was still very prevalent.”
The soap star explained his decision to come out, and insisted his personal life shouldn’t change the characters he’s able to portray.
He added: “I pretend for a living, I didn’t want to pretend in my private life. When you spend your life on screen, it’s important to hold on to the bits that are real.
“Who I am in my real life should bear no relevance to what I play on screen.”
Daniel also admitted that even since joining ‘Corrie’ in 2014 he has suffered homophobic abuse on social media, and the show’s bosses supported him.
He recalled: “I remember a woman said all the gay kissing in ‘Corrie’ had put her off her casserole.
“I replied, ‘Fear not, I imagine somebody with such a closed mind would make a pretty bland casserole’.
“The then producer phoned me the day after and I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m in trouble,’ but she said, ‘Thank you. You defended the show, you defended the storyline, you defended the character and you defended yourself. I’m proud of you’. I was really touched.”
Source: VacationHunter.Online
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