Sir Ian McKellen: Coming out as a gay man wasn’t difficult

The legendary British actor Sir Ian McKellen was at his eloquent best at a recent gathering in Mumbai sharing interesting anecdotes from his stellar career. His spontaneous wisecracks had everybody in splits and the actor spoke openly about the homosexual aspect of his personal life.
Sir McKellen opened up about his sexual orientation when quizzed by host Aamir Khan about the roughest and most depressing phase of his life.While the 'Hobbit' star was quick to set at rest doubts of having faced difficult times in his professional career, he admitted that in personal life it was his homosexuality that he found difficult to deal with in his younger days.
“One aspect which was difficult for me was being a gay man in England. It was legal but you had to be 21. It did inhibit me if I had love scene with a girl as I couldn’t fake it. I did try to avoid romantic parts,” the 76-year-old actor said.

It was at 49 when Sir McKellen officially declared his homosexuality to the world by which time almost everyone knew about his homosexual orientation. When asked by Aamir if it was difficult to come out in the open, the Shakespearean actor disagreed and said , “It wasn’t difficult. I was well-established and confident.”
The only worry for Sir McKellen was about losing female fan following. However the same disappeared when there was no decline in his fans mails from women folks. The actor also narrated the story of a female fan who wrote to him citing her disappointment on learning about his homosexual status as she fantasized him as a sex figure. But later on she realised that the actor was her fantasy and she could carry on with it unabated.
'The Lord of the Rings' actor also took an indirect jibe at Sec 377 of IPC that criminalises homosexuality. When Aamir pointed out that our laws were made by Britishers, Sir McKellen quipped, "We changed it long back in England but you are holding on to it to protect yourselves from western culture.”
The two-time Oscar nominee also revealed how declaring his homosexuality openly made him a better actor and changed his relationship with everything around him.