‘Boy Erased’ star Lucas Hedges: ‘I’m not totally straight’
The 21-year-old actor says he's somewhere on the "spectrum" when it comes to his sexuality.
By Will Stroude
Boy Erased star Lucas Hedges has opened up about his sexuality, revealing he doesn’t consider himself “totally straight”.
The 21-year-old actor, who pays a teenager undergoing gay ‘cure’ therapy the upcoming film adaptation of Garrard Conley’s acclaimed memoir, spoke candidly to Vulture about “existing on [a] spectrum” when it comes to his sexual orentation.
“I owe it to this part to speak as honestly as possible,” Hedges explained. “In the early stages of my life, some of the people I was most infatuated with were my closest male friends.
“That was the case through high school, and I think I was always aware that while for the most part I was attracted to women, I existed on a spectrum.”
The New York-born star, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in 2016’s Manchester-by-the-Sea, recalled his reaction to a former middle school teacher first describing sexuality as a spectrum of attraction.
“I felt ashamed that I wasn’t 100 percent, because it was clear that one side of sexuality presents issues, and the other doesn’t as much,” he said.
“I recognize myself as existing on that spectrum: Not totally straight, but also not gay and not necessarily bisexual.”
Hedges, who also played a gay character in the Oscar-nominated Lady Bird earlier this year, went on: “People expect you as an actor to have a voice that’s set in some way, and that’s really not what I am.
“I’m very much within the conflict and confusion of my own life, still, and I definitely feel a pressure to step up in a way.
“I prefer to step up in my art, and I don’t entirely know how to in my life.”
Boy Erased is set for release in the US on 2 November. Check out the trailer below:
Words: Will Stroude