Kal Penn has come out as gay and revealed he is engaged to his partner of 11 years.
Kal Penn
The 'Big Bang Theory' and 'How I Met Your Mother' star has detailed his secret relationship with his now-fiance Josh in a new memoir called 'You Can’t Be Serious'.
The 44-year-old actor was on a break from acting and working in the Barack Obama administration at the White House when he met his future husband while living in Washington DC.
However, he insisted while he's never made a conscious effort to hide his sexuality in public, Josh and his close family don't like "attention".
Speaking to People about the tome, the 'Harold & Kumar' star said: “I’ve always been very public with everybody I’ve personally interacted with. Whether it’s somebody that I meet at a bar, if Josh and I are out or we’re talking to friends.
“I’m really excited to share our relationship with readers. But Josh, my partner, my parents, and my brother, four people who I’m closest to in the family, are fairly quiet.
“They don’t love attention and shy away from the limelight.”
And while Kal is only coming out to the world now, he'd already told his Indian parents and close friends and insisted it was "super easy" telling his loved ones, having already dropped the acting career bombshell on them.
He said: “I shared things with my parents and close friends first.
“I know this sounds jokey, but it’s true: When you’ve already told your Indian parents and the South Asian community that you intend to be an actor for a living, really any conversations that come after that are super easy.
“They’re just like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ I felt very supported by everyone. That’s a wonderful thing. I know everybody has different experiences with that and so I definitely feel very fortunate.”
And after waiting a decade to come out, Kal insisted there is "no timeline on this stuff", but he's "glad" he did it when he did.
He continued: “I discovered my own sexuality relatively late in life compared to many other people. There’s no timeline on this stuff.
“People figure their s*** out at different times in their lives, so I’m glad I did when I did.”
The book details the pair's blossoming romance, but Kal admitted he didn't see them going the distance after their first date, which saw Josh come over with an 18-pack of Coors Light to watch NASCAR on TV.