Award-Winning Star Of ‘Cabaret’ Joel Grey Comes Out At 82
Joel Grey announces he’s gay at 82, shares what it was like growing up in a time when it was much harder to be open.
He’s won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, and the herts of countless millions for his iconic portrayal as the the Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret,” on stage and on screen. But at 82, actor Joel Grey had never publicly said he is gay, until now.
In an exclusive with PEOPLE magazine, Grey says, “I don’t like labels, but if you have to put a label on it, I’m a gay man.”Â
“All the people close to me have known for years who I am,” Grey tells PEOPLE. “[Yet] it took time to embrace that other part of who I always was.”Â
He tells PEOPLE how difficult it was to be gay when he was growing up.
It was different for a man of his generation. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of noted actor-comedian Mickey Katz, Grey remembers “hearing the grownups talk in the next room, my mother included, talking derisively about ‘fairies’ and men being dragged off to jail and even worse for being who they were.”
Grey is also the father of actress Jennifer Grey, best-known for her roles in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Dirty Dancing.”
“I feel very happy for my dad that he has come to a point in his life where he feels safe and comfortable enough to declare himself in a public way as a gay man,” Jennifer tells PEOPLE. “Mostly because the more people are free to own their true nature and can hopefully come closer to love and accept themselves as they really are, no matter what age, no matter how long it takes, to finally be free of the lies or half truths, it is freedom.”
Some responses via Twitter:
Make sure to willkommen ‘Cabaret’ star Joel Grey, who came out of the closet today. http://t.co/5tmgI6TWhT
— Gabriel Arana (@gabrielarana) January 28, 2015
Joel Grey comes out at 82. Pleased for him. But sad so many men and women of his generation spent their whole lives feeling they had to lie.
— Miche Doherty (@miche) January 28, 2015
I didn’t know Joel Grey wasn’t out. But most of all, I didn’t know he was Jennifer Grey’s father! Welcome out Joel!
— Q. Allan Brocka (@allanbrocka) January 28, 2015
#JoelGrey can safely speak up without fear of going to jail that was a frighting reality for aging #LGBTQ… http://t.co/Rw6NAiJ8Dd
— MyPurpleUmbrella253 (@MyPrplUmbrella) January 28, 2015
<3 <3 <3 Joel Grey <3 <3 <3
— Pepsibookcat (@WinterLightHome) January 28, 2015
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Image via Flickr
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