Colton Haynes is opening up about the homophobia he experienced when starting out in Hollywood.
In a piece for Vulture, Colton Haynes said he was “confidently queer” before moving to Los Angeles. He reflected on the first time he met with a prospective manager in 2007 when he was fresh out of high school. The company’s co-owner said he had a too loose posture and noted he would have to change his mannerisms because they were “a little too theater.” Haynes said he believed this meant “too gay.”
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Later, his manager told him he was ready to meet with an agent. His manager sent Haynes to go deliver paperwork on his behalf to an agent while he wore a cowboy hat and an unbuttoned western shirt. So Haynes did it, and he thought it impressed the agent until his manager called him into his office the next day. The manager told him the agent wasn’t interested and added, “I’m sorry, but this isn’t working out. Your voice, your mannerisms — they’re still too … gay.” His manager then dropped him and suggested he work for an online NSFW website.
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He said he spent the next couple of weeks working on his mannerisms that got him dropped in the first place. “I took lessons with a voice instructor who had me talk while holding a highlighter between my teeth for the entire class so that when I took it out, my diction was crisp and clear,” he explained. “I practiced speaking with a folded Post-it note under my tongue to teach me to make my S sounds less sibilant, since the softness of them made me sound gay.”
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Haynes later went on to book his first role in an episode of CSI: Miami. He went on to star in Teen Wolf, Arrow, and American Horror Story: Cult.
The CSI: Miami gig brought him a new team with new opportunities, but he had to keep being gay a secret all the while. A secret his doctor said was killing him. He decided to come out in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2016. The move, he said in some ways, set him free.
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Haynes shared his Vulture piece on Instagram, and fans flooded the comments with support for him for sharing his story. Many applauded him for sharing his story. Fans expressed hope that his doing so will prevent other actors from experiencing the same. Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Fergerson wrote, “Thank you for writing this! I’m so proud of you & happy to call you a friend!” Meanwhile, his Teen Wolf co-star Holland Roden wrote, “You have been the consummate inspiration for your friends Colton – truly. We love you to the moon and back.”
