Colton Haynes came out as gay last year after what he said took him a long time, and now, the former “Arrow” star is explaining why he didn’t publicly disclose his sexuality earlier.
“I was literally told from the day that I moved to Los Angeles that I could not be gay because I wouldn’t work,” the actor told Andy Cohen on his exclusive SiriusXM channel, Radio Andy, on Monday.
“I was with my management team and a team of people that just literally told me I couldn’t be this way,” he continued. “They tried to set me up with girls, I was rumored to date Lauren Conrad for six months because they were kind of angling a story, and then I dated every other young person, which of course I didn’t date.”
The former “Teen Wolf” actor said the girls he was set up to date knew of his sexuality “the whole time.”
“It was like a Tab Hunter situation,” he explained, referring to the actor who lived through his movie star days as a closeted gay man until he came out as gay in his book in 2005. “It was horrible — then I just had a breakdown. I kind of had a mental break and I just couldn’t to work on the show anymore.”
In May 2016, Haynes publicly came out as gay after a social media post in January raised fan speculation about his sexuality. That January, a fan made a comment about Haynes’ “secret gay past” on a Tumblr post, to which the actor replied, “Was it a secret?” Celebrity bloggers took the post as a confirmation that he was coming out, but Haynes didn’t make any further comment on the matter. Shortly after the post, he checked into rehab to deal with anxiety issues that he says led to ulcers. Haynes says his health issues were the main reason behind his decision to leave his role as the superhero Arsenal on “Arrow” the previous year.
At the time, he said he was feeling better and that it “took me so long to get to this point, but I’m doing so good. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and healthier than I’ve ever been, and that’s what I care about.”
During the SiriusXM interview, Haynes added, “I was so tired of not being myself and having to lower my voice for certain things and having to not dress the way I wanted to dress and do all this stuff. It was life-changing whenever I came out.”
Haynes will next star in “Rough Night” alongside Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Zoe Kravitz and Ilana Glazer, which hits theaters this Friday.
Watch the video above.