Luke Evans found coming out to his parents “scary”.
Luke Evans
The ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ star has recalled the “difficult” moment he told his parents, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, that he is gay, as he said it was tough for him to be honest with them at first, but insists they now have an “acceptance of each other”.
He said: “As with a lot of parents, it was difficult for them to understand. And I think the religion is also a difficult thing with added pressure. But it took time, and it took respect, and patience, and understanding and acceptance of each other, which doesn’t come overnight. It was a very scary thing.”
Luke was inspired to come out to his parents after a friend told him they “have the right to be told”, so they could make their own decision on how to react.
He added: “They’ve lived through loads of stuff, they deserve to know and they deserve to know by me, and then they can make their own decision, and I was prepared for that. As an only child, it’s a difficult thing, but I felt that’s how it had to be and that’s what I did.”
The 41-year-old actor also insisted he has come to understand that his parents’ narrow experiences of the world don’t change how much they love him.
He explained to Attitude magazine: “Everybody has their own journey. By not telling them, you’re not giving them the opportunity to make the decision of how to respond and how to react. But most of the time people are good. And it worked out for me at least, and I’m very grateful for it. It’s taken a long time, but we’re very good now.”
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