Chris recalled being cast as Kurt before he came out (Picture: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
Chris Colfer has revealed how strongly he related to Kit Connor when the Heartstopper actor felt ‘forced’ to come out, recalling his own experience with opening up about his sexuality while on Glee.
From 2009 until 2015, Chris portrayed fan-favourite character Kurt Hummel on the musical TV series, earning him a Golden Globe among several other accolades.
In the fourth episode of season one, which aired in September 2009, Kurt comes out as gay to his father, while in real life, Chris publicly confirmed he was gay during an interview with Chelsea Handler in December that year.
While speaking to his former Glee co-stars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz on their podcast And That’s What You REALLY Missed, Chris said it ‘broke his heart’ when Kit recently said he felt ‘forced’ to come out publicly.
On October 31 this year, Kit, 18 – whose character Nick comes out as bisexual in Heartstopper – wrote on Twitter: ‘Back for a minute. I’m bi. Congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye.’
Reacting to that moment, Chris, 32, said: ‘I think the whole thing with Kit Connor from Heartstopper, that absolutely broke my heart, because essentially the same thing happened to me 15 years ago, and we were the same age.’
Kit received a wave of support after his tweet (Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage)
Chris explained that when he was growing up, it was ‘dangerous’ to be ‘out’ where he lived, although he said that his hometown has ‘come very far in the past couple of decades’.
While he was ‘thrilled’ to discover that Kurt on Glee had been written specifically with him in mind, he added that he was ‘terrified’ when he realised the character was gay.
‘I’m actually kind of grateful for it, in a way, because it actually kind of pushed me into a path of honesty with myself. But I was absolutely terrified,’ he told Kevin and Jenna.
Chris spoke to his former Glee co-stars Kevin and Jenna on their podcast (Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Fox)
Kevin, who played Artie on the show, asked Chris if it ‘felt like a judgement’, that the character written for him was gay even though he hadn’t come out as gay
‘They just assumed, and they were right,’ Chris replied, laughing with his former co-stars.
He shared that while he was bullied at school with derogatory remarks about being gay before he had come out, he ‘wasn’t ready to have that conversation with myself or anyone I knew yet’.
‘I was just so happy to get a job and have an opportunity to do what I wanted to do. That was what I was focused on,’ he stated.
The actor won a Golden Globe for his performance as Kurt in 2011 (Picture: Craig Barritt/WireImage)
When Kit shared his tweet about being ‘forced’ to come out, he received a flurry of support from fans.
Chris explained that he ‘really wanted to tweet something in support of him’, at the time, but he ‘also didn’t want to be the old guy trying to get attention’.
‘I’m sure he would have appreciated it,’ said Jenna, who played Tina on Glee, while Kevin added that they would have been able to relate over a ‘specific experience’.
Chris also said that while he ‘highly encourages everyone to come out when they are ready’, pushing anyone to come out is ‘one of the cruellest things you could possibly do’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Fox for comment.
Glee is available to watch on Disney Plus. Heartstopper is available to watch on Netflix.
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Pushing anyone to come out is ‘one of the cruellest things you could do’, Chris said.
