Matt Damon on gay actors: ‘People shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality’

Hollywood leading man Matt Damon suggests in a new interview that gay actors would be better off staying closeted, saying: “I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period.”

In an interview with The Guardian, the 44-year-old star of The Martian is asked whether he thinks it is harder for actors to be openly gay in Hollywood:

“I’m sure. When Ben [Affleck] and I first came on the scene there were rumours that we were gay because it was two guys who wrote a script together,” he says.

“It’s just like any piece of gossip… and it put us in a weird position of having to answer, you know what I mean? Which was then really deeply offensive. I don’t want to, like [imply] it’s some sort of disease – then it’s like I’m throwing my friends under the bus. But at the time, I remember thinking and saying, Rupert Everett was openly gay and this guy – more handsome than anybody, a classically trained actor – it’s tough to make the argument that he didn’t take a hit for being out.”

The star, who has been married to partner Luciana Bozán Barroso for 10 years and before that had dated Minnie Driver and Winona Ryder, goes on to argue that all actors – gay or straight – should keep their love lives out of the public eye:

“I think it must be really hard for actors to be out publicly, but in terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period. And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”

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