Richard Chamberlain Quotes

Finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment.

I was homophobic because I obviously didn't know that I was gay.

If I remember back to when I wasn't open about my sexuality, I spent a great deal of time worried about it.

I realized so much of my college years were spent not wanting to be gay. I just imagined how different it would be if I were going through that experience in 2016 as opposed to 1984.

Being gay facilitated my capacity for shame. As a child, I carried around this thing that gradually became this big dark secret. When I came out in a newspaper interview at 30 I was expecting the reaction the following day to be like the climax of 'Dead Poets Society,' but actually no one really cared.

As someone who was once in the closet, I can tell you it is the most sad, dark, awful, depressing place to ever be.

The only thing I can give to young gay people is that when I was growing up, there were no role models that were blokey that were men. Everybody was flamboyant and camp, and I remember going, 'That's not me, so even though I think I am gay, I don't think I fit into this world.'

What's it like to figure out you're gay and then begin the process of coming out? Well, for most of my life, I felt doomed. I could imagine no path that would allow me to realize my authentic self. I felt the need to lie, even to myself, insisting: I am straight.

I'm not sure when I first knew that I was gay.

I am camp. Lots of gay men can't cope with their campness. They are in denial about it.

I've had gay friends who grew up in small towns in France who had to lie for most of their lives, even to themselves. But eventually such lies become stronger than the people, and they have to face them.

I know growing up as a young gay person how much you hate yourself, how much you already think you're different.

Says he, 'I am a handsome man, but I'm a gay deceiver'.

The truth is, I probably would be dead if I had become a star, because at that point I was so closeted and so afraid of people of finding out I was gay. There was no telling what would have happened.

I feel very fortunate that while I had a little bit of personal panic or maybe a little internal struggle as a teenager, really coming to terms with the fact that I was gay, and also knowing I was going to have to tell my family. And, how was that going to affect things? And would it affect things? And ultimately, it did not.

Knowing you're gay, as a kid in the '80s, is a very scary thing.

I was a gay kid who didn't know I was a gay kid, which was really challenging because you think there is something wrong with you until you understand what it is.

When I was growing up, I kept hoping that I wasn't really gay because I wanted to have children. I went through a long, tortured period, so the fact that I have been able to be true to myself and have a family has been the nicest surprise of my adulthood.

For some reason, I was deeply ashamed of the theater early on. I think it had to do with this growing sense I was gay, although I couldn't have put a word to it back then.

I used to hate myself for being gay. I couldn't come to terms with it.

I'd gone through life being obsessed about my sexuality. People would ask about relationships, girlfriends, you start referring to people as 'they' so there's no judgment and you can be ambiguous. People around me knew, but I still struggled with talking about it openly.

I was closeted into my mid-twenties and even into my late twenties. It screwed up my relationships; it screwed up things with my family that I've since repaired.

Dating in the closet is torture. It's one of the most difficult things, especially if you are completely closeted.

I used to be scared of people thinking I was gay but now I'd be shocked if they didn't.

I was insecure and ashamed. Unless you're gay, being gay has never been looked at as being cool. And I wanted to be cool.