Tell me again how Louis & Harry choose to stay closeted of their own accord...
Colton Haynes stopped getting roles in the wake of coming out as gay. He had managers tell him his mannerisms were "too theatre" or "too gay." He was encouraged to let people draw false conclusions about him being with women he was close to. His team "threw a fit" because of an old photoshoot he did for a gay magazine. His closet was eating at him so badly he developed dependency to alcohol and pills. He noted that it's "no different" for gay artists coming up today. (x)
Elliot Page was forced to wear a dress and heels despite not wanting to, prior to when he came out as trans. Something as simple as his attire needed to fit heteronormative expectations of how a "woman" was supposed to dress during "pivotal events." A direct quote from him- "I wish people would understand that that shit literally did almost kill me." (x) (x) Elliot also spoke about the industry pressuring him to remain closeted, and how his decision to come out as gay negatively impacted roles he was cast in. (x)
Cara Delevingne was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein for being queer when she was just starting out as an actress. (x) Weinstein also told Cara that she needed to hide the fact she was gay, telling her that she needed to "get a beard." (x)
Jonathan Bailey was advised by other gay men in the industry to not share his sexuality. "At the time, he was told, ‘There’s two things we don’t want to know: if you’re an alcoholic or if you’re gay.'" Jonathan said the 'advice' he was given genuinely made him feel as though he could only be happy if he was straight. He also spoke about the culture of needing to be straight to have a successful career. (x) (x) His life was threatened for being queer. A man approached him in a coffee shop, shouting "If you don't take that cap off, I'm gonna fucking shoot you [..] Where I'm from, people like me kill people like you." (x)
Ezra Miller stated that he was told he was "making a mistake" with coming out. "Folks in the industry, folks outside of the industry. People I’ve never spoken to. They said there’s a reason so many gay, queer, gender-fluid people in Hollywood conceal their sexual identity, or their gender identity in their public image." (x)
Matt Dallas was pressured into staying in the closet during his time acting on a TV show. "I was told to stay in the closet, not talk about my sexuality, to be on every red carpet with a girl on my arm because you could not be successful if you were openly gay in the entertainment industry." (x)
Lance Bass was closeted during his time in NSYNC and he stated his biggest fear with coming out was that the record label would drop him. (x) He knew from being an artist that being out as gay was a "career killer." He stated that this rang true for him, with attempts to branch out after NSYNC failing because industry professionals only saw him as "famous for being gay." (x)
George Shelley was a member of Union J, a boyband who formed very close to when One Direction formed, also on The X-Factor. George was told not to come out because his bandmate Jaymi was out, and boybands could "only have one gay member." George was made to believe coming out would ruin the band and jeopardize his career. (x) George used words such as 'conditioning' to describe how he was managed in his closet. "I spent four years being somebody that I wasn’t and it really, really fucks with your mind… and the anxiety and paranoia amplified." (x) (x)
Kate Winslet knows multiple closeted actors who are terrified of their sexualities being revealed to the public because of how it could affect their careers. She even states this is a problem that dominantly affects queer men. (x)
Rupert Everett has talked about how he "never got a role in hollywood" after coming out, even going so far as to advise closeted gay celebrities to never come out if they want successful careers. "But the fact of the matter is, and I don’t care who disagrees, it doesn’t work if you’re gay." (x) (x)
George Takei was terrified to come out after hearing stories like Tab Hunter's, in which a tabloid outed him- leading to his contracts being dropped and a smear campaign being pushed against him. George said the lesson he took from that was "you can't be an actor and be gay at the same time." (x)
All of these stories are from the "lucky" people who did have the opportunity to come out eventually. Many, many more artists and actors have died in the closet, or are still navigating this industry to this day in the closet. The manipulation, the threats, the blacklisting, the corrective sexual assault, all of that and more keeps celebrities in the closet- whether they're 16 or 65, whether they're new to the industry or have been in it for decades, it doesn't matter. This is the industry, this is systemic homophobia, and this is the lion's den many young artists get unknowingly trapped in before they're wise enough to know better.
...But tell me again how Louis & Harry are in control.
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