brotherly love

Scott Evans opens up about that time he was accidentally outed by his brother Chris

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
Scott and Chris Evans pose on the OScars red carpet
Scott and Chris Evans | Photo Credit: Getty Images

For years now, you’ve been able to pick up a Captain America action figure and say you’ve “played around” with A-List hottie Chris Evans.

And, soon, you’ll be able to do the same with his brother Scott Evans, too, thanks to the arrival of the highly-anticipated Barbie movie, in which the out actor stars as a yeehaw-ified version of the Ken Doll.

Greta Gerwig’s big-screen adaptation of America’s favorite doll represents a major blockbuster moment for the younger Evans brother whose had an active career mostly on television, and particularly in soaps with his years-long run on ABC’s One Life To Live.

Yes, it’s the Summer Of Scott, and Evans is kicking things off with a splashy new cover story for Attitude Magazine.

The accompanying photoshoot in a pretty, pink Barbie-style dreamhouse is great, but what makes the feature extra special is that it’s a conversation between Evans and fellow Boston-ite, Jujubee, the Drag Race legend who just so happens to have some history with the actor.

As it turns out, the pair first met back in 2000 when they were working at a summer arts camp—well before Jujubee donned a wig and became Jujubee—and then would frequently bump into each other at the Boston gay bar Axis when she was just a baby queen.

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Jujubee on the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation: “It’s all this strange, choreographed dance. And none of them are good dancers—everybody’s really off beat!”

Anyway, thanks to their long-standing friendship, Evans isn’t afraid to get personal and opens up easily when asked about his coming-out journey.

As he remembers, he told his older sister first, then his mom, then his younger sister, and then his brother, Chris: “I was very fortunate that I didn’t have any kind of drama or shock,” Evans remembers. “It was sort of like, ‘Why did you wait so long?’ It sounds a lot harder than it actually ended up being, for which I feel very lucky.”

In fact, Scott’s coming out was so matter-of-fact that, after Chris’ career took off some time later, he didn’t realize he was publicly outing his younger brother when he gave an interview to The Advocate in 2009 in which he talked about Scott’s sexuality and said he is “down with the gays.”

Talking with Jujubee, Scott reflects on that moment and shares why it wasn’t as awful as that might sound:

I remember reading that article, it was 2009 or something, and I was, like, 26 years old and I’d been out for a while. My brother called me when he saw the headline and he was just like, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry. Like, this is what—was I not supposed to?’ I had been on a soap opera at that point, and I was a very out person. I made that decision.”

As he continues, Scott shares more about why being out as an actor “never even crossed [his] mind”:

“I know a lot of people in the business that are still closeted, and I know a lot of people that don’t like to talk about it, because it does affect your jobs. And people say it’s better now. It’s not. It’s progressed, but it’s not better. But I cared more about my own mental health and my own personal wellbeing, and so I was out. The only reason it seemed like he outed me is because he is in the public eye. Everybody that knew me, knew. I have nothing to hide. If you met me in person, you know.”

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Elsewhere in the conversations, Evans recalls being teased by homophobic bullies when he was younger. And though there are still bullies out there, now he’s not afraid to stand his ground.

He tells Jujubee about a more recent instance where, after a first date, he and a guy were walking down the street when someone shouted at them, “What is it like to suck dick?” Things got a little heated, but Evans says the homophobe didn’t expect him to yell back and they quickly backed away.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go over so well with his date: “[I thought he] was going to be like, ‘Oh my God, that was so hot’ or ‘Thank you for standing up.’ Instead, he was like, ‘I can’t believe you just did that.’ He wanted to go home and I never saw him again. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I don’t know, I’m not one to back down.”

But we have a feeling Scott won’t have trouble scoring any dates once Barbie hits theaters in just over a month—it’s every gay’s most anticipated movie of the summer, after all.

He remembers “hyperventilating, proudly crying” when he got the call from Gerwig about being in the movie, and says that every day on set “was a dream” especially working alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

Every day we’re in the theater watching Barbie will be a dream, too. (Yes, we’re planning to see it multiple times—aren’t you?) Keep an eye out for Evans in the teaser trailer below; he can be spotted briefly in what looks like a big dance sequence and also in the instantly iconic scene where Gosling and Simu Liu’s Kens threaten to “beach” each other off.

Related:

That time Mattel made a gay Ken doll then freaked out when everyone else freaked out

“We’re not in the business of putting c*ck rings into the hands of little girls!” Lisa McKendall, Mattel’s head of marketing and communications, said at the time.

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