Chris Colfer says he was urged to stay closeted while working on ‘Glee’: “I was terrified”

I grew up in a very conservative town where being openly gay was dangerous. I remember when I got on [Glee] the role was written for me, and I did not know what the role was gonna be, and so I opened the script and when I read the script for the first time was when I saw that it was an openly gay character and I was terrified.

When I started filming the show I had a lot of people tell me, ‘Do not come out whatever you do because it will ruin your career.’ So I hid for a little bit. But I also told them, ‘I can’t hide it with my voice… I’m more effeminate than most people. I can’t hide it.’ And they said, ‘Don’t worry. As long as you never address it, you’ll be rewarded for it in the end.’

We went on this big poster signing tour right before the show came out, and this little boy secretly slid me an envelope when his parents weren’t looking and I opened it up and it was a little note that said, ‘Thank you.’ And there was a little paperclip chain that was the colors of the rainbow, and in that moment I knew I have to come out.

At the time, I was thinking, ‘Okay, yeah, if I’m an openly gay actor, yeah, I may never win a major award. I may never get to play a superhero. But I think being a beacon of positivity and providing that comfort for people is way more important than attention.’

Actor and author Chris Colfer speaking to Entertainment Weekly about being told not to come out when he first started working on Glee.