Chris Colfer is looking back on his “Glee” days.
The actor said he was told to not come out as gay when he first got his start on Ryan Murphy’s hit series “Glee.”
“I grew up in a very conservative town where being openly gay was dangerous. I remember when I got on the show, the role was written for me, but I did not know what the role was going to be,” he recalled on Tuesday’s episode of “The View.”
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“So, I opened the script and when I read the script for the first time is when I saw that it was an openly gay character.”
The “Roswell Johnson” author, 34, admitted he was “terrified” when he first accepted the gig because he hadn’t come out yet.
“When I started filming the show, I had a lot of people tell me, ‘Do not come out, whatever you do, because it will ruin your career,'” he recalled.
Colfer starred as Kurt Hummel on the series alongside Lea Michele, Naya Rivera, Cory Monteith and Amber Riley, among others.
The actor remained in the closet for some time but he also told those who advised him to stay quiet, “I can’t hide it.”
“They said, ‘Don’t worry as long as you never address it, you’ll be rewarded for it in the end,'” he recalled.
Colfer was eventually inspired to tell his truth after a little boy secretly slid him an envelope during a “Glee” poster signing tour.
“I opened it up and there was a little note that said, ‘Thank you’ and there was a little paperclip chain that was in the colors of the rainbow. In that moment I knew, I have to come out,” he said.
Colfer continued, “At the time, I was thinking if I’m an openly gay actor I may never win a major award and I may never get to play a superhero, but I think being a beacon of positivity and providing comfort for people is way more important.”
