Neil Patrick Harris Lays It Out

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Neil Patrick Harris graces the latest cover of gay glossy Out. And, like the mensch we know he is, the dreamboat actor spread himself wide open – emotionally, that is – to reveal the quiet trials and tribulations of his otherwise well-documented life. A taste:

OUT: Did growing up in Hollywood make it easier or harder for you to come out?
NPH: I think it was harder. Actually, I think it was easier for me, because I was around a lot of people who were gay and I was around a lot of people who were very confident. I was surrounded by people I could talk to freely about anything, and they were very successful emotionally and otherwise.
OUT: And yet…
NPH: And yet, part of the coming-out process is figuring out who you like and what that means and how to act upon it. Being an actor reduced my level of anonymity. I couldn’t just go to some bar and walk in and ask someone out on a date, because there was too much awareness of me. So it made it more difficult in that sense. I couldn’t be, like, “Maybe I like this kind of guy” or “Maybe I’m into this” — I couldn’t really experiment. I sort of had to narrow my gaze from afar. If I had any regret, it would be that strange lack of anonymity that created panic within myself that I would be found out. But I think that’s everyone’s big fear.

Harris also points to Real World: New Orleans’ gay Danny as an “empowering” example of someone who wore his sexuality “comfortably.” And he was pretty cute, too.

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