It has always seemed to me that gay men, in particular, are extremely willing and eager to believe the rumours about Tom Cruise / Richard Gere / Brandon Routh / Kevin Spacey / Matthew McConaughey / Hayden Christensen / Robbie Williams / et al.
The thing with a rumour is that is all it usually is. In the absence of a truth or a fact, a rumour will always be a rumour. I get to work with many entertainment reporters from newspapers, magazines and TV shows alike. These people get sent picture evidence of celebrity un-doings all the time, but many of those pics are unprintable because they are just too far over the line. One of my journo contacts at Heat magazine (the British equivalent of In Touch) told me that she once received pictures of a certain British supermodel unconscious at some party, with a hyperdermic syringe still inserted into a vein in her arm. She told me that in the UK or the US, that type of picture, 99% of the time, would never get printed. It's one step too far. But she told me that what definitely would get printed is a picture of Robbie Williams kissing his boyfriend on a sunlounger at the Sunset Marquis. Except, she told me, she has hardly ever received a picture of a celebrated man or woman kissing or embracing their respective boyfriend or girlfriend.
This does not, of course, mean that there are no gay celebrities working in the entertainment industry today. Like, duh! But it would be naive of anyone to think that Tom Cruise publicly outing himself would have either little or no negative impact on his box-office stock. With that in mind one can assume that any A-list actor working in Hollywood today would go to desperate measures to cover up the truth about his or her sexuality.
But consider this - these stars are followed and photographed constantly. People slip up, all the time. And when you consider how easy it is, these days, to take photographs of anyone in any situation, incredibly discreetly, it seems "moderately" inconceivable that there is still no picture evidence of any of this apparently rampant celebrity gayness.
It's not really surprising that many gay men (myself included) want the likes of Tom Cruise to be gay. After all, we have so few role-models (although I'm not sure Tom Cruise is really worthy of anyone role-modeling themselves on. Shagging, maybe) in the entertainment industry. I have to wonder though - would Tom Cruise be quite as desirable if he were out? Isn't the allure in the fact that we don't really know for sure?
Regardless - however damning the rumours appear to be, in the absence of afore mentioned truth / fact, 100% of the time I will always regard any kind of rumour, whether it relates to a celebrity or a close friend, with reservedness.
But I'm allowed to have my suspicions. Mr.Christensen - I am not convinced about you. I certainly don't believe the tabloid rumours that Hayden is currently pashing Kevin Spacey - a hug is, in my eyes, not damning evidence. But when I saw this clip of Hayden and Ewan McGregor sharing a "moment" outside the London premiere of Revenge of the Sith, I couldn't help but wonder.
In this instance my gaydar is not screaming to me that Ewan is gay. But he is, by his own admission, very metrosexual. In real life and in his movies (anyone seen The Pillow Book?) he appears to be the type of guy who is both old enough and secure enough in his heterosexuality to not have a problem with kissing a man on the lips.
Hayden, however, as far as I am concerned, does not have the relevant case history. How many 24 year old, heterosexual men do you know who would feel comfortable kissing another man on the lips for a good second? A second is actually quite a long time in heterosexual-men-kissing-each-other-on-the-lips terms. What do you think?
Ok - you've probably guessed that I really want to believe this one particular rumour. Regardless of the truth, sadly I have to face that fact that even if Hayden is gay, it is unlikely that he will ever be my boyfriend. *sniff*
Still, no harm in
Hayden? J'taime.
No comments:
Post a Comment