What do you think about the concept of "bearding"? When you were in casting, did you ever come across a closeted actor with a fake relationship? I'm just curious in general I'm not one of those J2 tinhatters.
We called it “promance”, as in celebrity pairings to raise their profiles but the media thinks they’re being clever by emphasizing the “pr” in promance. The pairings incudes romantic and friendship, the latter became “bromance” after the media pointed out that true male friendship is rare in the industry. When it works, it works because two celebrities are better than one in terms of brand recognition and earning power. Back in the pre-social media days it was common for celebrities who have the same publicists, agents, or managers to get paired up with eachother. Publicists frequently play matchmakers with their clients, one can say they’re the ultimate shipper.
“Bearding” and “handbagging” are not just for gay celebrities, plenty of straight people do it to appear more masculine or feminine. I knew a lovely girl who is very beautiful and had a side gig as a publicity girlfriend for a musician who is very straight but his style of music makes him seem gay, so he paid my friend $3,000 a month to go to network events with him. Meanwhile behind the scene he was constantly hooking up with girls for one night stands.
