TV host Raymond Gutierrez has just come out as gay.
The 37-year-old Filipino-American television personality made the announcement in a cover story with the magazine Mega Entertainment. In a feature interview, he also outlined the journey that brought him to this moment.
“Growing up, it was hard for me to even acknowledge who I am,” he said. “Like, what is this? I had my brother [Raymond’s twin, actor Richard Gutierrez of My Best Friend’s Girlfriend] who was so similar to me but so different in so many ways. But he never had to explain his sexuality, so why should I? And that was my thinking growing up.”
Gutierrez is the son of Phillipino movie star Eddie Gutierrez and talent manager Annabelle Rosales Rama-Gutierrez. His own career began in 1987 with a role in the film Lahing Pikutin and he has worked steadily ever since, hosting several popular Filipino TV shows and appearing in his own reality series It Takes Gutz to Be a Gutierrez on the E! South East Asia Network.
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He continued, “Entering show business at 19—well, I was a kid—but going back again to show business at 19 to be a TV host, that’s when it really hit me that, ‘Wow, being gay is really not accepted in a lot of these communities.’”
Related: Nashville hockey star Luke Prokop comes out
Gutierrez added that his fear of being bullied by colleagues earlier in his career is what prevented him from coming out until now, recalling moments when he heard people talking about his sexuality backstage.
“Back then, being the new person on TV, I was bullied by a lot of the older people in the studios,” he explained. “Being gay now is not the same as being gay back then. 10 years ago, it was totally different.”
He continued, “Because of those moments, where people really wanted to put me in a corner and really label me and kind of diminish my skills and diminish what I can bring to the table because of my sexual preference, I was still going through so many emotions at that time that I had no idea. Like, ‘Can I go through this first before you label me anything?’”
For Gutierrez, the constant pressure–or expectation–to come out from a young age led to mental health struggles.
“So, that kind of became—why I got depressed and why I gained so much weight. I really became self-destructive,” he revealed. “I turned to alcohol, I turned to drinking, partying, and to food unhealthy habits—just because I had no way else to express myself.”
Now even becoming a successful TV host in the US and the Philippines could seem to bring peace to Gutierrez’s inner struggle. Only by sharing his truth, he realized, could he accomplish that.
“As I grew older and as I matured, I realized the best thing that you can really offer your family is to be yourself,” he said. “So drop the cloak, drop the act; just be yourself.”
“I’m lucky just because my family wants nothing but the best for me. They always just want me to be happy. We’ve always been very close and at the same time, I had friends that are like family to me. My chosen family who made it much easier to kind of realize that it’s never too late to love yourself, it’s never too late to acknowledge those feelings, and face your fears.”
Scroll down for more pics from Gutierrez’s Instagram page…
Cam
Good for him, Congratulations on coming out, feeling more comfortable with yourself and joining the community publicly!
Cam
I’ve changed my mind. I hate anybody prettier than I am, so really, I hate him. Actually, that means I hate everybody. Have you SEEN me? Ew.
Cam
@Cam (Stolen Name)
Awww, the right wing troll is so obsessed if forgot to troll this guy for coming out.
I love that I’ve ruined your ability to do your job here.
Cam
@Cam (Stolen Name)
Aww, the poor ugly fellow is upset that everybody’s prettier than he is. I sure am, and I’m glad this pretty fellow came out!
I’m actually a lot more accepting (and prettier) than you are.
Cam
@Cam (The troll stealing my name).
Hmmm, interesting, the right wing troll account seems to really really want to attack people based on looks. Just like Republicans normally accuse other people of things they do, like attacking children or committing crimes, it looks like the troll feels really bad about it’s appearance and is transferring that.
Not only is your troll game sad and weak, but you also just exposed a major insecurity of yours.
Now back to Congratulating this brave gentleman for coming out in a country that is normally hostile to LGBTQ people.
Sqwoah
Somebody I have never heard of came out in 2021! Stop the presses!
MISTERJETT
JERK!!!!!
Jim
Get over yourself! It’s the 21st Century.
Or are you just a media whore wanting attention. Opps, yep that’s what’s going on here.
Cam
Troll account with different screename enraged that somebody came out of the closet in a country that has been hostile to LGBTQ rights.
Funny it never shows an ounce of rage when bigots want to pass laws harming LGBTQ people, yet somebody coming out sends it into a tantrum.
MISTERJETT
JIM THE JERK!!!!!!
jfabz
He could be a media whore. But his coming out is big deal to the Filipino lgbtq+s. Officially, the Philippines is a conservative nation in terms of its LGBTQ+s laws, but its people are more accepting of the community. So the more positive LGBTQ+ visibility they have there can only help the cause.
CityguyUSA
More fake abs.
DarkZephyr
Nobody cares what your body looks like.
Doug
I noticed his abs too. I’m not convinced they’re fake, but they look strange.
PerhapsYesNoMaybe
Good for him. He’s very handsome, too.
Kangol2
Congrats and more power to him, and he’s definitely easy on the eyes.
Gadfeal
The Gutierrez twins are one of the few identical twins I’ve known, or learnt about, with one being “gay”, and the other “straight”. I haven’t done a “survey” of identical twins to determine orientation, but most gays with an identical twin I’ve come across have a straight twin brother. I doubt that there has been a scientifically rigorous such survey as I doubt that one could a) identify all identical twins who are minors, b) get authentic answers from all. There are about 3% birth rate of twins in the US, of which only 1 in 10 are identical i.e. 3 identical twin births per 1000 births.
Both parents, Eddie Ramirez and Annabelle Rama, are Eurasians with at least 25% European ancestry. That means that Richard and Raymond are also Eurasian. Richard was the more noticed one in Philippino TV, if not so much in the US, when Raymond was the chubby, expressive one.
Today, Raymond has “butched up” and looks like a handsome Latino Angelino. He looks similar to a young Brian J Smith (Sens8, Stargate Universe) face wise.
Hdtex
Who is she? Who does she hope to become? Why should I care?
Not remotely good looking.
Cam
HA! Love it! You’ve been trying to rehabilitate this screename on other threads and yet you couldn’t resist attacking somebody for coming out under it.
Thank you for continually slipping up and exposing your screenames over and over and over.
Your trolling is tired and embarassing.
C_Alan
“thanks gays for the warm welcome and I’m likely hotter than you”
mdrguy1
I’m happy for him, but as I browsed his IG, there was a sadness and a sense of struggle to it. You migh even say loneliness. Then I ran across the transformation pics of how he was once very overweight and he transformed his body, and it made sense. It’s like he’s still running from the fat kid he once was. I hope he eventually finds peace and settles into his new skin, without constantly looking over his shoulder at the past.
JessPH
Dogs know that he’s gay even before he came out.
Essie
Have no clue who he is but, good for him if coming out officially makes him feel better about himself. But, seriously, just looking at him, I don’t know how anyone didn’t know he was as gay as gay gets. But, now they know for sure so he can be thirsty on gay sites all he wants. So, take that shirt off and pose. Thirsty is good.
dustashed
His brother Richard is hotter in the traditional sense. His abs look that way because he used to be overweight. He looks great now but i believe he might have gotten a bit of surgery to get rid of the excess skin from his days being OW