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Celebs Who Came Out Later In Life: Rebel Wilson, Jodie Foster & More Stars

By:
October 11, 2022 3:15PM EDT

Coming Out Day is particularly special for those who embraced their sexuality late in life. Learn about Rebel Wilson, Jodie Foster, and more celebs’ journeys here.

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Stars Who Came Out Later In Life: Rebel Wilson & More

Stars Who Came Out Later In Life: Rebel Wilson & More
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

There’s nothing better than someone living their truth, and that’s why we love Coming Out Day. Every Oct. 11, people around the world celebrate the joy of being an out and proud member of the LGBTQ community, and plenty of stars join in on the fun.

Coming Out Day is especially important for people who embraced their identities later in life. For some stars, staying in the closet was a matter of what was socially accepted at the time. For others, the journey to self-acceptance was more complicated.

Rebel Wilson was in her 30s when she first revealed she was dating a woman. The smitten star went public with her relationship with Ramona Agruma in June 2022 via Instagram. In her post, she told followers how after years of searching for her “Disney prince” she finally met the “princess” of her dreams. Talk about a fairytale romance!

Ready for more inspiring stories of celebs who came out later in life? Check out the gallery for more.

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes
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Wanda Sykes was 44 years old when she came out. It was only after her wedding to girlfriend Alex, who she shares a pair of twins with.

Back in 2013, Wanda talked about pressuring herself to act straight with Oprah, telling her she “repressed” her feelings for too long. “I remember I was in the third grade, and I told one of my brother’s girlfriend’s sisters, ‘I wish I was a boy because then I could be your boyfriend.’ She was like, ‘What!? No, no. You do not like girls, you like boys, and that’s bad. That’s not right.’

“She was much older. I just remember the way she said it and the way she looked at me. I was like, ‘Oh, okay. So this is a bad thing.’ I knew then to never say that again, to never say that I liked girls. I made note of that, and that’s just how I lived my life well into my early 20s.”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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George Takei

George Takei
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George Takei waited until the time was right to come out. He was 68 when he married long-time partner Brad Altman in 2008.

He talked about his coming out process with Esquire at the time, telling the magazine, “The term ‘coming out’ makes it seem like it was instantaneous: You’ve been closeted, you open the door, you step out. It’s not. There’s a slow discovery. It’s that narrow, darkened corridor that gets lighter as you learn more information.”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Joel Grey

Joel Grey
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutte

Joel Grey saved his coming out story for his golden years. He was 82 when he came out in 2015. Talking to People at the time, the Broadway legend said, “All the people close to me have known for years who I am. [Yet] it took time to embrace that other part of who I always was.”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon
Gabriele Holtermann/UPI/Shutters

Cynthia Nixon is an out and proud bisexual who came out when she was 38, in 2004. Opening up about her love life with the magazine Attitude, she shared, “Falling in love with my wife was one of the great delights and surprises of my life, but it didn’t seem like I became a whole new person, or like some door had been unlocked. It was like: ‘I have fallen in love with different people in my life, and they’ve all been men before. Now, this is a woman, and she is amazing.'”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster
Jordan Strauss/MPTF/Shutterstock

Jodie Foster had been in the spotlight for decades before she officially came out during her 2013 Golden Globes Award Acceptance speech, at the age of 50.

Recounting her experience, she said, “I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age. In those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family, coworkers, and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her. To everyone she actually met. But now, apparently, I’m told, that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance, and a primetime reality show. You guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo child.”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Rosie O’Donnell

Rosie O’Donnell
Broadway World/Shutterstock

Rosie O’Donnell shared her identity with the world by playing a lesbian mom on Will & Grace in 2002. She was 40.

Rosie’s talked about her coming out during A 2020 episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans. She remembered, “When I came out on TV after 9/11, it was like a blip, nobody even…but I, like you, Emily, was surprised that people thought I was not gay.”

“I went to a comedy club, and I was doing stand-up, and I’m like, “I’m gay. Listen, 9/11 happened, I’m gay. I’m telling you all, I’m gay. In case the buildings blow up again, I’m so, so gay,’ you know?”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutte

Anderson Cooper was 45 when he came out as gay in 2012. Talking about when he first knew he liked other men, he told CNN’s Full Circle that he knew he was “different” from the age of 6 or 7. In the 2021 interview, he said, “I think I really, truly accepted it — and not just accepted it, but fully embraced it and came around to really loving the fact that I was gay — would probably be right after college.”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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Richard Chamberlain

Richard Chamberlain
Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Richard Chamberlain was 68 when he came out in his 2003 autobiography, Shattered Love: A Memoir. Talking about hiding his sexuality to protect his career, he remembered, “I was terrified that saying I was gay would alienate fans and topple my career, but it raised up in me my own self-loathing.”

The leading man added, “My career demanded that I keep all that as secret as possible. I was playing a romantic leading man most of my life. You don’t go around saying you live with a guy when you are playing a romantic lead.”

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM
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David Hyde Pierce

David Hyde Pierce
Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock

David Hyde Pierce came out in 2007, but became very vocal after California’s Prop 8 ban on gay marriage passed in 2008. 

Speaking to The Advocate, he explained, “This is not about being gay. This is about having the basic right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness… Those rights are not negotiable no matter whether people like it or not. We’re not trying to force anything on anyone. We’re trying to go about our lives and live them the best that we can. So that’s why I’m here, and that’s why all these people are here.”

David married partner Brian Hargrove in 2009.

October 11, 2022, 11:01AM