in response to that anon, i think also something to consider is how good phil seems to be at compartmentalizing, like i dont doubt that it was difficult and very likely frustrating, but like you said, phil is a pretty private person, and seems quite good at separating personal and public self, so i wouldnt be surprised if he's also good at separating "Alone With Dan" vs "With Friends and Family With Dan" selves
and i will say, just from personal experience, i was Pretty Closeted for Years during my first relationship and although it didn't work out for other reasons, we talked about the closet part of it, and that wasn't a source of problems for us, so not to sound like cheesy, but i don't doubt the strength of dnp's bond (which is much stronger than that relationship of mine) to weather something like that, especially since we don't actually know all the details about who in their personal lives knew what
Yes exactly!! I’m sure it was a hard time for both of them but like u said I think phil was fine with the arrangement and the way they presented themselves in front of other people. Iirc he even said that before coming out he didn’t think it was a big deal and then after he came out he realized it was important and he was glad he did it. But I don’t think it weighed on him the way it did dan. I think to him it was more “this is part of my personal life so I don’t want to share” rather than “oh no people can’t know I’m gay.” But the outcome was the same as the outcome dan wanted, which is that the did not present themselves as a couple to most ppl
Thanks for adding your personal experience as well :) I think people tend to overlook the fact that there are countless examples of couples being closeted that were still able to have happy/healthy/fulfilling relationships, even if the situation is obviously not ideal
