Nathan Lane Looks Back On How The Late Robin Williams Saved Him From Publicly Revealing His Sexuality During An Appearance the oprah winfrey show,
one in new interview with willie geist sunday todayLane, 67, recalled how he “wasn't ready” to discuss being gay during a 1996 talk show appearance. The two were there to promote their 1996 film bird cageIn which they played the role of a couple. At the time, Lane was not ready to talk openly about his personal life.
“I don't think Oprah was trying to single me out,” Lane told Geist. “I already told Robin, ‘I'm not ready. I'm too scared to go out there and talk to Oprah. I'm not ready to discuss on national television that I'm gay. I'm not ready.' “
instead of this, The Lion King The star was hoping to focus on winning the coveted role, in which he portrayed a gay man who performs at a Miami drag club owned by his partner, played by Williams.
“I certainly wasn't ready to go table-to-table and tell them that I was gay. I just wanted to talk about how I finally got a big part in a movie and I'm going to call it my sexuality.” Although it was inevitable because of the nature and character of the film,” Lane said, looking back. “I just wanted to do good work, and I hoped people would like it.”
But during the show, both Lane and Williams acknowledged that Winfrey began making inquiries about whether or not Lane was gay in real life.
“She was like, ‘How come you're so good at that girly stuff? Are you worried about being typecast?'” he said. However, Williams was able to redirect the conversation. “And then Robin kind of swoons and diverts Oprah, goes off on a tangent and protects me because he was a saint.”
Lane praised Williams, who died by suicide in 2014.
“Robin was the greatest person, just such a beautiful, sensitive soul and so kind and generous to me,” he said. “And it was, you know, it was kind of prophetic about gay marriage.”
Lane, who won an Emmy in 2022 for his work on Hulu only murders in the building, revealed in a 1999 interview with Advocate, during an appearance last month Scene To promote her new Broadway show, she shared that she's been with husband Devlin Elliott for a quarter of a century.
“We've been together 25 years and he's the greatest man in the world and I can't live my life without him,” Lane said. “Every day of the year he's a romantic.” The couple, who officially tied the knot in 2018, chose to forgo celebrating Valentine's Day last month as they prefer to maintain that level of romance throughout the year.
“In fact, my husband and I just said, ‘Let's do nothing on Valentine's Day. It's about doing this every day, this kind of appreciation,'” she shared.