West Wing star Lily Tomlin, who came out as gay in 2001, has admitted to being cautious about her sexual orientation for most of her career, saying it took her nearly three decades to openly discuss it.
“I didn’t want to sell my sexuality to get on the cover of Time magazine,” the 75-year-old actress said at a screening for her film Tuesday. “I’m so proud of how much we have moved forward with gay characters in Hollywood, but there still needs to be more roles.”
“I’m really active in the (LGBTQ movement )…So I’m happy that they support me,” she added.
Tomlin found fame in the 1970s, and said the thought of coming out during that time would have been “treacherous.”
“I never lied, but wasn’t forthcoming about it,” she said. “Now I am able to talk about myself openly, which is freeing, and I’m very happy that I am able to do so.”
While discussing feminism with The Wrap this week, Tomlin was asked if she thinks Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump would bring in a new wave of feminism if he were elected president.
“I wonder what he would do. You don’t know what he would do. C’mon, he’s liable to do anything, good or bad,” she said.
When pressed further, Tomlin stated:”I think he’s capable of anything, if it would work for him or profit him or just be of the moment. It might be good to have a guy like that in the White House. I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than some of the others who wanna get in there.”