Ian McKellen returns advance on memoir

'The Lord of the Rings' star Ian McKellen has returned USD 1.4 million advance to his publishers as he found it too painful to go public with his life in a memoir.
The 76-year-old Oscar-nominee returned the money to publishers Hodder & Stoughton as he changed his mind about writing the book, said the Hollywood Reporter. "I put nine months aside to do it, and I got a very handsome advance. Then I sent the money back," McKellen said at a literary festival.
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"It was a bit painful. I didn't want to go back into my life and imagine things that I hadn't understood so far.The privacy of my life I don't quite understand myself, and it has nothing to do with what I do for a living. So there you go, I'm sorry," he said.
The actor, who came out publicly at the age of 49 in 1988, is also known for his gay rights activism.
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