James Bond actor Ben Whishaw: It was hard to come out ‘with dignity’
Ben Whishaw has said he was unsure how to come out while still keeping his private life and “dignity” intact.
The star – who appeared as Q in James Bond film Skyfall – is famously guarded about his personal life, only confirming his sexuality publicly last year when he revealed he had privately entered into a civil partnership Australian composer Mark Bradshaw in 2012.
Speaking to Marie Claire UK, he has opened up about his experiences of coming out.
The Cloud Atlas star said: “It was never a secret, everyone around me in my life knew.
“It’s just very hard to know how to say it, in a way, with some sort of dignity and to remain private.”
He added: “It was something that happened at that time and now I’m very happy it’s just a fact and I can get on with life.”
Whishaw signed on to the lead role in a planned Freddie Mercury biopic last year, after Sacha Baron Cohen pulled out of the project.
Queen guitarist Brian May had claimed that Baron Cohen was replaced because he would have been “distracting” in the lead role, but reports suggested he had clashed with producers over the film’s tone.
The movie, which is backed by Queen, is set to focus on the period leading up to Live Aid in 1985 and Freddie’s famous performance, and is expected to not focus on the AIDS crisis.
