A new interview sheds a little light on Jim Parson’s delight at coming out. He’d been living openly for a long time, but nobody seemed to notice until a New York Times reporter asked him about it.
“(Reporter) Patrick Healy — and I just love this — he just (asked a question, beginning with), “As a gay man…” and I was kind of thrilled. He finally just took the information that I’d presented in front of him, and everyone, and just talked about it,” Parsons told SiriousXM Progress.
Back when he came out in 2012, it was reported as the most matter-of-fact thing in the world, which of course it was. Parsons was appearing in The Normal Heart, and nearly-but-not-quite engaged to his boyfriend:
The Normal Heart resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said.
Parsons is the star of Big Bang Theory, a show that is the sitcom equivalent of unfavored yogurt. But don’t hold that against him: he actually seems like a nice fellow.
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A few months ago, GLSEN gave him an award for being inspiring. “I’m very happy with where I am today and the idea that someone might not have such a positive experience in school is heartbreaking and angering because everyone deserves to feel as free as possible,” he told EW at the time. (That’s Entertainment Weekly, not a magazine about things that are gross.) “Everyone deserves to be who they are and figure out what it is they want to do in life and I think GLSEN really has a big impact in making that happen for people that haven’t been feeling that way.”
Aw.
ingyaom
“Unfavored yogurt”?
kevininbuffalo
Big Bang is one of my favorite shows so watch this “unfavored yogurt” stuff.
I love Jim Parsons
Cam
Or he could have just thanked his partner any of the times he won an Emmy when he was still closeted.
BartmanLA
Actually he’s thanked Todd many times over the years when he’s won, and this “unflavored yogurt” comment was just out of line, Big Bang Theory is one of CBS’s highest rated comedies, in fact it’s so popular it’s been renewed for a unprecedented THREE years.
Ben Dover
@BartmanLA: Regarding those who are too unintelligent to appreciate the humor of The Big Bang Theory, I wonder what they DO find funny – Johnny Knoxville in Jack@ss? The latest Seth Rogen movie? Fart jokes?
As for “unfavored” yogurt, smart people favor unflavored yogurt because flavored yogurt has all kinds of unhealthy chemical cr@p in it! We figured out that we can put real fruit in unflavored yogurt.
robirob
I enjoy watching The Big Bang Theory (and I guess I am one of the few who loves Mayim Bialik joining the show).
I think a lot of people feel the need to (over)value their own taste while diminishing the taste of others. Guess that’s part of life and makes so many conversations these days so very awkward (you like this? For real? Good god!).
Cam
@BartmanLA: said…
“Actually he’s thanked Todd many times over the years when he’s won,”
______________________
When people like you lie about things like this you diminish the real courage it took when he finally did come out.
He did not thank him as his partner. He thanked a long list of names, with his partner’s name hidden in the list. If he had actually thanked “His Partner” as you claim, then he would have already been out and wouldn’t have been outed by the NYTimes article now would he.
Bjk
That is the problem with making a “news” story and “op-ed” piece by inserting your opinion. People forget what you wrote about and remember what you thought. Suddenly, a nice, human-interest story becomes somewhat polarizing, all because you wanted to score a point. Limit yourself to who, what, where, when, why and how. Leave your opinions out of it.
Bjk
…and by the way, did a straight person chose that picture. I can’t imagine a lgbtq person choosing a picture of someone making the “loser” gesture to go with a coming out story. Seems insulting to me.
coming out = loser ?
LadyL
@Cam: Yes! Thank you!
GlenRN
“unflavored yogurt”? That is a bit uncalled for. Actually, the show is quite funny and mixes comedy with intelligence. Admittedly, most writers and editors at QUEERTY are incapable of recognizing that quality. . .
samwise343
@Cam: Something tells me that you weren’t held enough as a baby. Studies show this has serious consequences later in life. You probably don’t believe it so here’s a link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/21/babies-calm-down-when-carried_n_3128115.html
Bjk
@samwise343
If you can’t win with facts…go ad hominem.
jayj150
Really?. Throwing shade on BBT?. You guys know it’s THE most successful comedy in America right now(and it’s been for some time now), with enormous ratings and legions of loving, devoted fans, right?
Cam
@samwise343:
So in other words, I stated a fact, somebody tried to lie to cover it up, and I busted them on it. You could not argue with the facts, so rather than just leaving it alone and admitting that they were trying to lie, you post a ridiculous little posting that proves nothing except that when you can’t get your way you behave like a child.
Sorry that you get so upset when the world isn’t exactly the way you want.
DuMaurier
@Cam: Since I don’t watch awards shows like I used to I can’t comment with authority, so I’ll defer. I will make note of something from the interview this article doesn’t address: Parsons also said he regularly attended these events very openly with his partner, who was clearly his date, and although the press could clearly see this, they simply declined to address it or print anything about it.
You can get from that different things; seeing the press was ignoring a situation he wasn’t trying to hide, you could say he should have made ignoring it not an option. Maybe you blame the press for treating a gay couple differently than they would any straight celebrity and his or her date.
Bromancer7
BBT is one of the only sitcoms in the last 20 years that actually makes me laugh. Unfavored yogurt (as opposed to a favored one I suppose) doesn’t make me laugh, so clearly, the two are not equatable.
semtex
@robirob: You are not alone in loving Mayim on BBT. OH IT’S A TIARA
Cam
@DuMaurier:
The press did similar with people like Rosie O’Donnell. It was the weirdest thing with her. They all knew she had a live in long term girlfriend and yet would continually ask her about how difficult it was to raise all her children as a single mom and about how she was in love with Tom Cruise.
I don’t have as much problem with the press not covering something, but they actively lied in her case.
In Parson’s case, the only thing that bugs me is when EVEN HE is saying that he wasn’t outed until the NYTimes article you will still get these crazy people coming in here claiming that he was out before. They did the same with Anderson Cooper. I’m not sure why they want to diminish his actually coming out by trying to lie and pretend that the person was already out.
samwise343
@Cam: Cam, I’m not disputing what you wrote. I’m saying that you bitch and moan. about. every. little. #$@#$^. thing. Oddly enough, you’re a lot like Sheldon Cooper, the character Jim Parsons portrays.
toberlin
I like “Big Bang Theorie” /to call it “the sitcom equivalent of unfavored yogurt “is funny too…
Cam
@samwise343:
No, what happened was, you tried to make a nasty comment that had nothing to do with the posting, I busted you on it and others jumped on you for it and now you are backtracking. Fine.
You may want to look at your own glass house.