Jane Lynch on sexuality: ‘I felt like I had a disease’

Jane Lynch has admitted that she felt like her sexuality was a “disease” as a teenager.

The Glee star said that her feelings led her to lead a “life of secrecy”.

Speaking as part of the It Got Better web series, she explained: “For me, to be ostracised would have been the worst thing. To be thought of as different and not accepted was a fate worse than death.

“I enjoyed doing boys things. The boys stopped wanting to play with me when I got to be about 10 and I had to fight to play baseball.

She added: “Every day, I didn’t know how I was going to be received because I would just hang out until I got to play.

“Deep down inside I knew that something else was going on.”

The 53-year-old said: “It was almost like I had a disease I had been diagnosed. I had a journal and … I remember I wrote, ‘I am gay. No one can ever know this.’ And I went four blocks away and threw it out in somebody else’s garbage.

“It led to a life of secrecy that I had to unravel.”

Last June, Lynch confirmed that she and wife Lara Embry were divorcing after three years of marriage.

> Jane Lynch says Ellen Page should ‘give herself a break’
> Lea Michele denies feud with ‘Glee’ co-star Naya Rivera