Rupert Everett sat down with The Daily Telegraph to promote his appearance in Peter Schaffer’s play Amadeus at the Chichester Festival Theatre in London and proved he’s as unbridled as ever. The ever-charming Everett, who looks nearly unrecognizable these days, talked about everything from his love for marijuana and cocaine, to his sexual history, to his favorite topic in recent years: how being openly gay damaged his career.
“All through my career it was a huge issue,” Everett said, speaking in the past tense. “Movie stars and directors and studios spend a lot of money promoting human rights and being charitable in Africa but, actually, in their own backyard, they really don’t accept that any of these things [are] happening.”
He continued: “So people mostly said to me: ‘Oh, but you’ve been so difficult and you’ve blown everything for yourself, you’ve sabotaged your own career.’ To a certain extent, it’s true, but to a certain extent, it isn’t. There’s only a certain amount of mileage you can make, as a young pretender, as a leading man, as a homosexual. There just isn’t very far you can go.”
Perhaps. Although films like The Next Best Thing, Inspector Gadget and the straight-to-DVD debacle A Different Loyalty in which he starred opposite Sharon Stone likely didn’t help matters. Then, of course, there was the time in 2008 when he called Americans “whiny” and gay pride paraders “party grazing cows”, and in 2009 when he encouraged gay actors to stay in the closet, and in 2012 when he said that he couldn’t think of “anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads.” Oh, and let’s not forget about his 2008 kiss-and-tell memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins in which he basically threw all his Hollywood friends under the bus.
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But according to Everett, none of these things are what caused his career to stall. It was all homophobia in Hollywood, plain and simple. Never mind the fact that more and more actors are coming out each and every out every year, or that gay characters are being regularly featured on network television shows, or that films about gay issues have been sweeping Hollywood award ceremonies in recent years.
All that being said, one can’t help but note the irony in Everett starring in Amadeus, a play about a bitter egomaniac who outlives his fame and spends the remainder of his days tearing down others while wallowing in his own mediocrity. Maybe this is just what he needs to get his career back on track.
Billy Budd
“anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads.”
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.
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He is an idiot. How can a gay person declare such a thing?
I loved him in “Another Country”, when he was young and beautiful, but he destroyed his career because of his character and because of his Di-sas-trous plastic surgery.
clift
Jeez, this article is so way off the mark it’s not even coherent. MIssing all points by so many miles, I dont know why the writer doesnt just say I dont ‘get’ Rupert Everett and be done with it.
Meanwhile, I won’t bother to translate what is otherwise very clear about all of the above quotes in context, rather just remind that, at his worst, he is a provocateur and you’ve just been caught in his net and, at his best, this article pales badly in the face of his wit.
Otherwise, American or not, stop whining! 😉
manxxxx
It’s clear to me that he’s nothing more than his own self-fulled prophecy. He’s gotten what he has wished for. Not having really paid much attention to his professional career as an actor, I can’t speak to his talent or lack there of.
robirob
What would be any group without their fair share of ‘get off my lawn’ grumps?
Kenover
“So people mostly said to me: ‘Oh, but you’ve been so difficult and you’ve blown everything for yourself, you’ve sabotaged your own career.’ To a certain extent, it’s true, but to a certain extent, it isn’t.”
But mostly, it is.
abuelo
That old queen is ugly from the inside out. I don’t pay much attention to media so I hadn’t heard of him till I read this…Wish I hadn’t been on line today!
Amalgamate
Wow-this self hating old plastic surgeried queen is a disgrace. He was limited by his lack of talent-that’s why he didnt soar as an actor. Shameful. Someone put a d*&k in that man’s mouth so he shuts up!
MarionPaige
Rupert Everett was so outrageously beautiful I just keep wondering what kind of hard life he led to destroy those looks so soon. And when you had something like Michael Musto making a careeer out of yelling “Whitney Houston Is Gay”, how can anyone say that being gay won’t have any effect on your entertainment career? Didn’t it affect Ricky Martin’s career? And, isn’t it always something gay that is first to shit on some gay entertainer?
jar
@MarionPaige: If anything, Whitney’s inability to be open about her sexuality likely led to her demise. There is significant evidence on the deleterious effects of the closet, and drug/alcohol abuse is a common symptom. As for Ricky Martin, I am unaware of any effect on his career from coming out. More importantly, he has expressed that he is much happier as an out gay man. That is more important than a career ultimately. As for your last sentence, you’d have to provide some examples in order to assess the validity of your rhetorical question.
BigWoody
His problem may have been that he thought of himself as a young leading man.
I never thought of him as more than a supporting actor. There is not that much acting work out there especially for divas.
hotboyvb81
to say there isn’t homophobia in Hollywood IS naive!!!! Yes, he bitches too much, but he is right- how many are still bullied into staying in the closet- if it was so gay postive, they’d all be out by now- they are in the closet for a reason- hollywood homophobia. And, yes- Americans are whiny- I’m an American, I acknowledge that!
yaph
dear god please british director give this asshole a role so he will shut up.
unknown
I agree with Rupert. Being gay/bi is not all it is cracked up to be. Most gay men judge each other, and could care less about helping each other out, unless it is to get in someone’s pants, that is if they are hot. As for gay pride, what a damn joke. The lgbt community does not support each other, so where is this supposed pride? It is all just a piece of bullshit.
Joe Dalmas
He should be glad to have gotten as far as he did when he started as a whore. Most of them end up dead in a grimy motel, although the way he’s going he may be well on his way to that. And yes, his plastic surgery was an unmitigated disaster. His narcissism is so great he thinks it’s others who destroyed him. Look in the mirror, Mr. Everett.
Will L
Well, bless his heart. His career cratered and he blames it on coming out. I think in reality it cratered because he isn’t as good as he thinks he is. I agree with BigWoody. Rupert is a supporting actor. If he had focused on becoming a GREAT supporting actor, things would be much better for him now. I’m sure he sincerely blames it on coming out and has become a bitter, bitter man because of it. Now he’s just lashing out.
seaguy
Why make the statement that he is nearly unrecognizable these days and then not even use the picture? He is not ageing well.
inbama
He’s our own little Parker Marie Molloy.
Billy Budd
I must admit that he has issues, psychological troubles, and he is now ugly because of bad plastic surgery. But the media is being unfair with him. Read this persecutory article and see what I mean:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2606398/Rupert-Everett-I-havent-surgery-I-hair.html
Billy Budd
I meant defamatory article.
inbama
@Billy Budd:
Good article, thanks.
After the obligatory bitchiness, he comes off a lot better as it goes on.
jckfmsincty
He’s a decent actor, but not an especially creative and notable one. That has much more to do with his lack of acting offers than his being gay.
BigRedSion
A lot of people in the ‘gay’ community (whatever that is) and knee-jerk liberals have pilloried him for his views and–mostly legitimate–criticisms.
He is obviously not a ‘self-hating’ gay nor is he particularly pathetic.
His outspoken viewpoints have always set him at odds with very nearly everyone at one time or another, but so what? People always pay a price for their free speech and he always has, especially, since he has always offered both critical insights and sharp criticisms of many people–including himself.
His career has had to take different directions, obviously, since he is no longer a young, pretty boy with perfect chin and cheekbones, and his viewpoints are largely unwelcome in self-censoring Hollywood circles, where it is *perfectly OK* to make a complete arse of yourself in public (bad publicity is good publicity) so long as you don’t say anything negative about the ‘people who really matter.’
Please remember how many careers were ruined–sometimes overnight–when they were effectively ‘outed’ in the mainstream press (anyone remember The Village People?) while others were sort of permitted to continue as ‘open secrets’ a la Liberace. There are risks to ‘coming out’ or ‘being outed’ and even just being perceived as homosexual is sometimes anathema, whether true or not, proven or not.
His opinion does matter to him and he has never been one to be afraid of sharing. Others have differing opinions and experiences and these, too, are valid viewpoints.
But attaching EZ labels to him as a way of ‘branding’ him into silence is silly–and ultimately ineffective. Eric Blair (George Orwell)_ warned us about this type of thinking and strategy in most of his essays and novels (like 1984) as a result of the horrid nonsense and even worse reporting during the Spanish Civil War.
This has, rather unfortunately, become typical of both Entertainment News and what passes for mainstream journalism during the past 30 years.
Rupert Everett has had bad and good experiences and has some of the most unbelievable experiences and gone ’round a few hard turns, beaten addictions and is wiser thereby–surely anyone should be able to admit that there are important things he may yet teach us, things we may learn and performances he has yet to deliver.
vinceness
@BigRedSion: I agree with you 100%. Your analysis is spot on and very well written.
michael
Coming out probably did have a negative impact on his career as a leading man. We all (gay, straight, women, blacks, redheads, handicapped, etc.) have some form of discrimination to deal with. It is what it is and you can roll with it, or fight it or do whatever it is that you decide to do. However, surely he could have found roles in a supporting capacity or could have done theatre or television. Sure, the $3 million+ leading roles are nice, but there is nothing wrong with a $250,000 supporting movie role or even a $25,000 per episode tv role.
DB75
I’ve been putting some thought into this. While I do not disagree with any negative press with regards to Mr. Everett, as clearly he has shown himself to be a douche from time to time, I cannot help but wonder if for all his flaws and mistakes if he has a point? Could he be right when he said there is only so far an openly gay actor can go? I have been trying to think of all of the out actors I know and the roles they play. There aren’t as many mainstream out actors as there are indie actors.
inbama
@DB75:
That’s probably true, but his not achieving Hollywood leading man status has nothing to do with it.
Everett was an exotically beautiful young man. That kind of attractiveness is age specific. By 30, he had a huge forehead. Also, Hollywood stars have to have a kind of magnetism.
And even today – going on about Beyonce’s ankles? You can’t talk like that and expect the industry to embrace you.
Mykaels
I think the author makes a valid point in that he sabotaged his potential comeback. However, being gay did indeed sabotage his earlier career. He has been acting for decades. Yes, he made flops. All the great actors did.
I think more fitting is being gay denied him a lot of roles he wanted, and rather than resign himself to the side/character roles, he chose to become bitter, and he lashed out at the injustice of the reality inappropriately. And that lashing out has cost him a potential comeback career. Sure, lots of celebrities are coming out now. But ten years ago? 20 years ago? No they were not.
Rupert is not alone in the millions of gays his age who suffered setbacks career wise due to their sexuality. We cannot let the spike in victories and coming outs the past few years to cloud our judgement about the previous 40, 50, 60, 70 years. It is A LOT Different now than even 10 years ago.
Desert Boy
Rupert Everett is utterly miserable being gay. It’s possible he is the rare gay man who would actually benefit from conversion therapy. Lay down on the gurney, a few electro shocks to the head and voila! He likes pussy.
Cam
Yes Hollywood is homophobic, Yes being openly gay may have harmed his career.
HOWEVER, he had SUCH good will after everybody loved him in “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and he didn’t play the game enough.
Also, he should have known better than to do a film with Madonna. She seems to be the ONLY person who ever still has a career after any of her films. Even her former husband who was the darling of the film world had a career tank after he directed a film with her.
tricky ricky
just because troy donahue could be a movie star does not mean that you can be a movie star mr. everett.
what we have here folks is a whining brit who thinks he should be a big time all american movie star when all he was ever cut out to be was a pretty faced character actor in jolly old england doing a bit of stage and a lot of television work.
career hint: never write a tell all bio where you say you were a male prostitute.
neil_mungeam
Interesting that folks talk about the death of his career. He got rave reviews for his last play…
Yes the man is a bit of an embittered old queen but he also does a lot of good work campaigning for and defending various vulnerable peoples in London. Wont here about that here though…
Dear Queerty, The Chichester Festival theatre is NOT in London. Its in Chichester on the south coast of England just a few miles east of that island you can see just below the middle of the country. Its 75 miles from London.
neil_mungeam
@tricky ricky: nice casual contempt for both my country and the stage you got there mate.
JimboinLA
If he’s playing Salieri eight times a week on The West End he’s doing something right. That’s no walk in the park.