Bittersweet

Actor Cheyenne Jackson talks to The Advocate about being out in Hollywood, closeted actors, his childhood, coming out and everyday domestic dramas.

My favorite part:

"As a pleasant contrast to the e-mails he receives through his website from right-wing Christians warning him that he’ll “die a horrible death," Jackson’s inbox is regularly flooded with messages from small-town teenage boys whom he’s inspired to come out. "One of them asked me to send him a picture, and he said he held it as he told his family because it gave him strength. A couple weeks later when his friend was going to come out, he let the friend hold my picture. It’s kind of heavy, but at the same time if they feel support and strength just by the way I live my life, that’s great."

It’s a comfort Jackson didn’t have attending House of the Lord Christian Academy in his tiny, rural hometown of Newport-Oldtown on the Washington-Idaho border -- "very Little House on the Prairie," he says -- where the only gays were known as "the dump dykes," two mullet-sporting lesbians who ran the local garbage dump. "The school would quote Scripture -- ‘It is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord to lie down with another man’ -- and I was told that I would be going to hell, so from a very young age I knew that it was something that I would have to deal with later in life."

Though Jackson always had girlfriends, his heart belonged to Chuck, his best friend in high school. "I was in love with him," Jackson recalls. "I truly thought that we would be together. If he got a girlfriend, I’d purposely make sure that my girlfriend was best friends with his girlfriend so that we could always do shit together. He was a Mormon, and right before he left on his mission, I took him to lunch and said, ‘Chuck…’ And he said, ‘I know. I’ve always known.’ And I was like, ‘You have? Oh, my God!’ To this day, he’s still a friend, but now he’s married and has five kids."

Source: Cheyenne Stands Tall, The Advocate, Issue 1006, April 22, 2008

Two years of Waiting for Toothy

Dany decided to close down Waiting for Toothy.
Thanks for the ride Dany, it’s been fun. Good luck!

Danyelle Dillon wrote:

Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Waiting for Toothy came about as a venting of sorts. I wanted a "safe" place to discuss the possibility that Jake Gyllenhaal may not be completely straight and may be or- at one point- was dating actor Austin Nichols. The idea came to me after a fellow IMDb poster created a Jake blog. In the beginning, I didn't actually want a Jake blog per se but more of a collective blog of Toothy Tile referrences and ambiguos quotes by Jake. However, such is life, the blog evolved into an all out Jake Gyllenhaal (and Austin Nichols) blog. Which turned out to not be a bad thing.


Friday, April 04, 2008
It is my feeling that endeavors borne of anger often will die in anger. Perhaps this is true. But I am not angry today - the day I say goodbye to you all. Yes, Waiting for Toothy started out of anger, but it is not ending in anger – at least not completely. This has been a ride for me. Bitter. Sweet. Sad. Happy. There are so many adjectives that describe my experience manning Waiting for Toothy. Name any, and I can probably relate. What I am feeling today is sadness and relief. Waiting for Toothy has died today, and I am mourning. If I had to assign WFT a pronoun, I would call it a he. He was beautiful, kind, caring, smart, sexy, and socially aware. He was also a bit too sensitive, eager, over-ambitious by taking on things out of his control (such as others’ thoughts of him), maybe even a little naïve.

But he stood for something, even if in the end it was perceived futile. Even as he was dying, he tried. He would say to me, “Give it another go, girl. Don’t give up just yet.” The hope of a dying man. I didn’t have it in my heart to tell him things were not looking good, so I kept trying to please him, pretending it was still fun. But the dying know when you’re comforting them, giving them sunshine in their darkness. In January, he finally said, “I am suffering.” We were teary, because we both knew in a short time I’d have to pull the plug. I am letting him go today. Tonight, we mourn.

Birthdays Do Not End with Death

Heath Andrew Ledger
Born April 4, 1979.

Air travel industry & celebrities

Some celebrities choose to avoid paparazzi; others use paparazzi for some free publicity.

"Many carriers have "special service" staffers to speed stars and VIPs through airports and on to planes, or out back doors to limousines. Special rooms, some hidden behind unmarked doors adjacent to gates and some private lounges inside airport clubs, are reserved for politicians, movie stars, sports heroes and other dignitaries.
…
British Airways recently slipped a major movie star out of the airport "completely avoiding photographers by devious, but legal, means," Mr. Williams says with pride. He can't say who, but airport officials say Angelina Jolie was a recent airport patron.
In general, if you have to ask for it, you probably don't qualify for special-services treatment. But even if you haven't won an Oscar, you can purchase a bit of special coddling for yourself for as little as $100.
…
Last July, even Victoria Beckham, aka pop singer "Posh Spice" and wife of soccer star David Beckham, was sent to the end of the immigration line as 200 photographers waited outside for her arrival. (British Airways did whisk her children and their nanny out a back door so they'd avoid the media crush.)
…
Airport and airline officials say gate agents or skycaps who check in celebrities often tip off photographers -- and earn a percentage of the revenue a photo generates.
…
Of course, many times the tips come from the celebrity's publicist. While some stars ask airlines to help them avoid photographers, others covet the attention and ask airline special-service representatives for help with hair and makeup before facing swarms of cameras."

Source: The Star Treatment: Flying Like Jennifer Aniston - The Wall Street Journal

The Good Question Replies Have It

Dear Ted:
Does Toothy Tile's girlfriend know that he's Toothy Tile? I'm thinking Toothy might be working his way toward her ex.
Beth
Concord, N.C.

Dear Tooth-Fake:
Yes, and quite possible. But only if he already had him. T2’s in lurve, doncha know.

Source: Ted Casablanca's The Awful Truth

The show must go on #2

Ex-husband Ryan Phillippe confesses that he finds it "bizarre" seeing photos of Reese and Jake together and I must concur. I still have a hard time believing that they are an actual couple ... despite the fact that they do spend a lot of time together. They really look more like friends to me. But whatever they "are" to one another the fact remains that they are pretty much joined at the hip these days ... a fact that we all must deal with as best we can. I choose to live in my happy delusion that Reese and Jake are nothing more than besties who are spending way too much time together because they are both jaded by love. Reese prolly misses the happy days with Ryan and I know that Jake misses the days with Matthew McConaughey and Lance Armstrong ;)

Source: Pink Is The New Blog

Honesty vs. Career

Q: What do you think would happen if a major male movie star like Jake Gyllenhaal or Ben Stiller came out? -- Anson, Billings, MT

A: Assuming it’s someone at the peak of his career like Gyllenhaal or Stiller, and not a character actor like Ian McKellen or a “respected elder” like Jack Nicholson, I think it would all depend on how much money his next movie made. If the movie was a hit, he’d be lionized and hailed as a trailblazer in the media, and the offers would pour in (even as he’d be ridiculed and attacked on right-wing talk radio and on the “comedy” circuit; the paparazzi and online gossipmongers would be especially vicious).

But if that actor’s next movie tanked—and this is more likely, since most movies disappoint—well, that failure would be seen as instant confirmation of the “fact” that audiences won’t accept a gay male leading man…and that actor’s career would take a serious, perhaps non-recoverable hit. He’d still have to deal with all the nasty ridicule from right-wing talk radio and the online gossipmongers, but he probably wouldn’t get much more leading man studio work. He’d probably have no choice but to gravitate to character work or television, where he’d have another shot at stardom…but a television career would, again, depend on the success of his initial offering. If that first show failed, he’d probably have to take a few years off and hope for a comeback once things calmed down a bit.

How do I know this would happen? Well, I don’t, of course; it’s all speculation. But it’s pretty close to what happened to Ellen DeGeneres (and Anne Heche, for that matter).

Source: Ask the Flying Monkey (March 25, 2008) by Brent Hartinger