“Be who you needed when you were younger”. That was the inspiring message that encouraged “Teen Wolf” star Charlie Carver to come out as a gay.
Charlie took to Instagram yesterday to share a touching 5-part post, discussing his early struggles as a 12-year-old child and how he came to terms with his sexuality.
The 27-year-old actor who also stars in “The Leftovers” recalled, “As a young boy, I knew I wanted to be an actor. … I also knew, however abstractly, that I was different from some of the other boys in my grade. Over time, this abstract ‘knowing’ grew and articulated itself through a painful gestation marked by feelings of despair and alienation, ending in a climax of saying three words out loud: ‘I am gay.’”
While Charlie came out to his close friends and family some time back, his Hollywood affiliation complicated things. “I feared I would be limiting myself to a type, to a perception with limits that I was not professionally comfortable with. And I created in my imagination an industry that was just as rigid in this belief as well,” he wrote.
Once he realised that this fear was unfounded “after having the privilege of playing a range of characters, gay, straight and otherwise”, Charlie felt that this was the right time to come out. “I now believe that by omitting this part of myself from the record, I am complicit in perpetuating the suffering, fear, and shame cast upon so many in the world,” he said.
He added, “So now, let the record show this — I self-identify as gay. And does that really matter anymore? As a young man, I needed a young man in Hollywood to say that — and without being a d‑‑‑ about it, I owe it to myself, more than anything, to be who I needed when I was younger.”
He ended his post with a nod to his twin brother Max Carver, who also stars in “Teen Wolf” and “The Leftovers”: “And let the record show my twin brother is just as cool for being straight”.
After which, Max took to Twitter to congratulate his twin.
my brother has HUEVOS
— Max Carver (@maxcarver) January 11, 2016
Congratulations on coming out, Charlie! You’ve got our love and support 🙂
You can read Charlie Carver’s entire post on his Instagram page.
Sources: Entertainment Weekly, E! News, Dailymail Online, Huffington Post.
