Fans may recognize Luke Evans as the mighty Apollo from Clash of the Titans or the virile Zeus from Immortals. Given this mythical cinematic lineage, the openly gay actor’s coming out must have been epic, right? We’re picturing a closet door exploding into a hurricane of splinters as his burly frame muscles its way into empowerment, obliterating oppression into the shadows from whence he once lurked.
Actually, luscious Luke never really came out of the closet… because he was never truly in one.
“I was a happy kid,” recounts Evans in his recent interview with Attitude magazine, “but I didn’t have a good school life. I was bullied very badly. I was an only child. There were a lot of bullies in my school, and I was an easy target.”
Aside from the everyday horror of being harassed, young Luke knew that he possessed a core quality that made him dangerously unique. “I was just different from most people in my town and most people in my school. It all scared me too much, really. So I got through school, I struggled through and kept going.”
Evans left home at the tender age of 16 to liberate himself from a religious upbringing that was equal parts protective and stifling. “I needed to find my identity, and I needed to be independent of my family, find my voice and be a happy, gay teenager. A teenager living on his own.”
As Luke evolved into the Hollywood heartthrob we all now covet, he maintains an innocence that galvanizes his appeal. “I went into the world as a kid, because I had to. I am proud and happy, and I’ve lived a very big life that I’m super happy with. And I’ve never been ashamed.”
Leaving regrets and trepidation in the rearview mirror, Evans has beefed up such franchises as Fast & Furious and The Hobbit. He flexes his powerhouse status with every screen appearance he makes, but his most important role is that of queer inspiration.
“I hope that I’ve broken down a lot of barriers, just because I’m trying to represent my community, but I can’t represent everybody. And I certainly can’t please everybody. I just have to do it my way.”
Pride comes in all shapes and sizes, but our favorite is the Welsh, wonderful manifestation that is Luke Evans.
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