Former teen heartthrob Ryan Phillippe is opening up about how going gay-for-pay early in his acting career caused his parents to freak out and practically “disown” him.
You might not remember, but Phillippe played the first openly gay character on daytime television when he was cast as Billy Douglas on ABC’s One Life To Live in 1992.
Phillippe was just a teenager at the time and the role was pretty controversial for the early ’90s. Looking back, he says, taking the part did serious harm to his personal life.
“I had grown up going to, like, Baptist school and Christian school,” the 46-year-old tells Female First. “When I was a senior in high school, I played the first gay character on a soap opera–first gay teenager ever–and so I was shunned at that point.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
He continues, “I mean, this was 1992, and I was playing a gay teenager and I was in a Christian school. They weren’t happy about it.”
A few years later, Phillippe landed the role of Sebastian Valmont in Cruel Intentions, a film that dealt with themes of sex, drugs, incest, and same-sex attraction.
That, too, caused a rift in his family.
“I thought my parents were going to disown me,” he recalls.
They eventually got over it, but Phillippe says he hasn’t played a super sexualized role like that like that since.
“I’ve still never played a character like that,” he says, adding, “I want to get back to playing a character like Sebastian.”
We’re sure there are many, many others who wouldn’t mind him going back to it either.
Scroll down for some pics from Phillippe’s Instagram page…
Charlie in Charge
Ver interesting story but come on Queerty? That headline is pretty misleading, playing a gay character is not what we think of when we hear gay-for-pay.
Tad
Agree completely, that was nothing more than clickbait for the boys. I wanted to hear about some real gay for pay action going on with that heartthrob. But alas, it was only for a show. Or was it…?
Liquid Silver
Times two with CiC. That’s not gay for pay, that’s acting. Clickbait much?
Cam
I wonder if it’s weird for teenage children to have their parents posting constant thirstraps on insta.
Donston
Probably. I imagine his daughter dealing with people coming up to her telling her how “hot” her dad is. But that was gonna happen no matter what. Her parents are public figures, and Ryan has always depended on his looks/sex appeal. He’s also been “thirst trapping” for well over a decade. He used to get the paps to take pictures of him outside working out shirtless. It’s been his thing for quite a while, and It’s a way to make sure folks pay attention to him here and there.
Catholicslutbox
No weirder than him dating someone younger than his eldest daughter.
Cam
@Donston,
You said “He used to get the paps to take pictures of him outside working out shirtless.”
I know, he and Matthew McConoughey just pretending that they happened to not go to the gym and chose to work out on the crap equipment out at the public beach.
cuteguy
Didn’t he do a sexy part in the studio 54 film?
Harley
Hell yes. He was USDA prime beef cake in Studio 54.
jjose712
Most sexy scenes were cut from the film
ClintonH
This is a shit headline. The implication is that he did gay porn in his early career. He played a gay character on a soap opera, which sounds like it was pretty groundbreaking at the time. Way to take something that could have been an uplifting article and turn it into petty clickbait. Shame on you.
WashDrySpin
Queerty is all about click bait and gay baiting
Donston
Queerty is all about clickbait headlines. Just know something is likely bs before you click.
Mack
Gotta say he’s still hot. Don’t care that much for the tats, but those lips are certainly kissable.
Thad
If his parents haven’t disowned him over the tats, they certainly shouldn’t care about his roles.
russellhm
I may be mistaken but wasn’t “Cruel Intentions” a remake and modernization of “Dangerous Illusions” with Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Keanu Reeves? A Baptist school? Amazing he wasn’t sent to a conversion therapist.
Man About Town
You’re close; it was “Dangerous Liaisons”
leauxbeaux
…or to a convent!
ShiningSex
well he has nothing else really going for him, so why not. LOL.
He looks “rough” (in a bad way) in some of those pics.
TomG
Apparently his parents do NOT understand that it is acting, religious beliefs or not. That doesn’t affect the person Ryan is. Sad for them that they apparently are bigots, and in the worst way. Using religion as their excuse.
BaltoSteve
That definitely seems a lot like the mentality “My religion won’t let me bake a cake for a gay wedding.”
RFD
I watched OLTL at the time and for many years. Still miss it. And Ryan did a great job as Billy Douglas. This was a very important story and ahead of it’s time. Great work! I have not seen the other things mentioned.
Dymension
I almost had heart palpitations when I read that headline!
trsxyz
I imagine it was a pretty scary role for a young, straight actor to take back in 1992, when he was just starting his acting career. Good video clip. He did a good job.
dhmonarch89
I can’t understand why someone would put graffiti all over a perfect body!
stagehand1
I don’t know what pisses me off more. Your pathetic attempts at creating gay drama or these lousy actors who complain about what playing gay or being gay made their lives so difficult! Just stop.
ShowMeGuy
Yet it is very telling that a society places such a stigma on something to such an extreme that even when that subject is approached in MAKE BELIEVE situations; which is the storytelling world of television and film, that people connect an actor portraying such a character as somehow relating to that actor’s real life. Hell, the industry of make believe * film and television* is even guilty of “typecasting” an actor who plays gay early on in their career.
And this will continue to be news until the day when playing gay is not a career killer because in real life being gay is no longer an issue.
RiBrad
I found that clip very moving. The script was actually really nuanced and captured so many of the elements that we go through when coming out. What an amazing role for a young actor to take on. (It also affirms my belief that it doesn’t matter whether gay or straight actors play gay roles. Their ability to commit to the truth of the character is all that matters. Ryan did a great job.)
Josh447
Agreed. I’d like to have seen Ryan get a little madder at the dad, show some more grit, but overall it was quite good.
Chuck Macklin
Wait… Ryan’s str8?
Donston
I don’t recall Ryan ever explicitly saying I’m 100% hetero and “straight” identifying. But even if he did the headline would still be clickbait-y and tactless.
8millionandcounting
When someone looks younger than they are and it doesn’t work. He looks like he’s just out of high school and still acts like it Those pics don’t help either. You are pushing 50 act like it. Doesn’t mean he can’t be active etc but come on those tats and poses. They just look stupid on him. Try too hard much?
jonasalden
Thanks again for the clickbait title, Queerty.
wooly101
Yawn…
Mr-DJ
Seriously Queerty? How do you write an article about Ryan effing Phillippe, and not mention “Studio 54”? That’s where he was introduced to virtually everyone.
(Also – like everyone else is pointing out – you screwed up the headline.)
desertguy
Gay for pay? Is that what Queerty is calling acting? Why I even bother to read 90% of the stories on this site boggle my mind! They are always agenda driven, one sided, and not open to other opinions and views. Equality and fairness are not concepts here.
montegutdude
Hot. Hot. Hot. Dude just does it for me. And he always has. Bait, though, is having him in every promo of the new ABC series ‘Big Sky’ but not actually in it! I’ve been looking forward to that for weeks!
Leash
I too, hate clickbait.
Hillers
“Might not remember…” lulz. Child, I’ve been in love with him from the jump.
Beautiful man with a baby face and rockin’ bod. And that lucky bitch Reece Witherspoon got to have him for a minute!
karljordinson
Pay for gay?
Where has he done this! He played a gay character on a tv show. Who writes these stories!
ScottOnEarth
He hasn’t played a super-sexualized part on film for a long time, but the majority of his social media posts seem to be super-sexualized. Thankfully 🙂
ducdebrabant
Playing a gay character, as an actor, is not “going gay for pay.”
yup5hioop
hahahaha clickbait in the Trump era is like the crime of jaywalking – unless Quertty shows up at his house and calls him a demon infested marxist temptress of the flesh I endorse all the clickbait in the world. His roles have been super traditional for a long time and frankly it’s hurt his career cuz he’s hot and people want hot drama not captain vanillla
Josh447
A YouTube vid just dropped that covers all this via Ryan himself. The vid is called – Ryan Phillippe on his first reaction to Cruel Intentions- it’s really good.