October 9, 2023
Troye Sivan Wanted to Come Out to Ian McKellan Before His Parents
READ TIME: 5 MIN.
When Troye Sivan was 15, he was an aspiring singer/actor appearing in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" in Australia, a highly-lauded production with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Sivan knew he was gay and wanted to tell someone. But it wasn't his parents he wanted to tell first. In a recent interview with GQ Germany, the 28-year old music superstar, who was born in South Africa but moved Down Under when he was 2-years of age, was already a seasoned performer when he was cast in "Godot," the Theater of the Absurd classic. By the age of 12 he had appeared on Australian StarSearch 2007 and had released his debut EP "Dare to Dream." By the time of "Godot," he had released two major labels EPs, "TRYXE" and "Wild," as well as appearing as young James Howlett in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
Then and now, McKellen was an icon for Sivan, a distinguished actor, he had famously come out as gay in 1988, 7 years before Sivan's birth. He admired the British actor so much that he wanted to him to be the first person he told that he was gay. "I hadn't come out to my parents at the time, but then I thought about telling Ian McKellen. Somehow I had the feeling he noticed." Sivan told German GQ. "I wanted to talk to someone about it so badly and he was so kind."
"'Waiting for Godot' is about waiting for something that will never happen. Shortly after meeting McKellen, Sivan tells his family that he is gay. Three years later, he uploaded an eight-minute video to YouTube called "Coming Out." Ten years have passed since then," writes GQ Germany.
Sivan, the publication writes, "is one of the youngest and brightest gay icons in the world. That's exactly what he's struggling with. Of course it's flattering, says Sivan about being called an icon, it's an honor. 'There's only one reason I'm a little opposed to it, and that's the privilege it reflects. I never had to worry. I never had to worry about being killed because I was gay. My family supported me completely from the start, my circle of friends, my record label. I can rely on a foundation that makes me fearless.'"
Sivan has a huge social media footprint with 15 million followers on Instagram, 8.6 million on X (ex-Twitter), and 3 million on TikTok. This, of course, has led to some negative criticism of him in the various formats, with some aimed at his recent provocative video for "Rush," a celebration of gay sexuality. How does he remove himself from the social media space? "To be honest, I have difficulty with that. I struggle with my screen time. There is so much happening on the internet that can completely consume you at any time. As a child, I felt more comfortable online than I do today. Now I would like to have more distance from it. I've also started thinking more about what I share and what I don't."
"Rush" may push the limits of some due to its sexual openness, but Sivan sees it as a reflection of his own sexual embrace. "I feel great power in my sexuality. When I go out in Australia, I experience a confidence on the dance floor that makes you kind of get lost in the music and in the moment. People radiate that they feel very comfortable with themselves and their sexuality and their style. That same confidence is hot, and I think everyone was feeling hot the day we shot the video. I wanted to express that," he told German GQ.
He said of filming "Rush," named for a popular poppers brand, in Berlin that it proved more than a shoot. "Sivan says he was in Berlin for a whole week to produce the video, but they only shot on two days. Some evenings he had time to go out," adds German GQ. "At the end of the week we all had lots of new friends. It sounds strange, but we had so much fun working that the production really felt like part of the party experience." He adds, "even the beer in the video was real."
But when asked what city he is most comfortable in as a queer man, Sivan answered Los Angeles. ""LA is really very queer. When I lived there, I forgot that straight people existed," he said. But, he adds, it is not a party city, per se. "In LA, in all the years I lived there, there were maybe two nights that felt like I was really letting go. I only had my party education in Melbourne." Melbourne is the city Sivan presently calls home.
Check out these pics from Sivan's IG:
