Actor Daniel Franzese Comes Out in Letter to Damian of 'Mean Girls'

A decade after his “Mean Girls” portrayal of Damian, the high-school outsider who was “almost too gay to function,” actor Daniel Franzese has come out in real life — by penning a poignant letter to the beloved character he played.

“I was twenty-six; you were sixteen. You were proud of who you were; I was an insecure actor,” he wrote in the letter, shared exclusively with IndieWire. “You became an iconic character that people looked up to; I wished I’d had you as a role model when I was younger. It might've been easier to be gay growing up…

“So, why the hell did it take me so long to come out of the closet?” Franzese, now 35, asks. “Here’s why: When I first became an actor, I wanted to play lots of roles — Guidos, gangsters and goombahs were my specialty.  So, would I be able to play all of those parts after portraying a sensitive, moisturizing, Ashton Kutcher-loving, pink-shirt-wearing kid? I was optimistic. Hollywood? Not so much. I was meeting a ‘gay glass ceiling’ in casting.”

The Brooklyn-born actor, who began his career with a role in Larry Clark’s 2001 “Bully,” has recently co-starred in the thriller “I Spit on Your Grave” and the upcoming TV series “Dating in L.A. and Other Urban Myths.” And he’s far from the first actor in Hollywood to cling to the closet.

When Ellen Page came out during an emotional Human Rights Campaign event speech in February, she blamed the entertainment industry for placing “crushing standards on all of us,” noting, “I have been trying to push back, to be authentic, to follow my heart, but it can be hard.” In a story about Page’s announcement, Forbes writer Dorothy Pomerantz pointed out, “In another era, for a famous person admitting to being gay would have been the end of his/her career. Movie stars under the thumbs of big studio contracts regularly married and had children just to continue a façade of heterosexuality. Today the world is a better place... But it would be ignorant to pretend that sexual preference doesn’t matter at all in Hollywood.”

She added, “Neil Patrick Harris rakes it in playing the very straight Barney on How I Met Your Mother and Quinto gave Spock a (hetero) love life in the new Star Trek movies. But those guys are the exception, not the rule. For the most part, the celebrities who have come out are either smaller-earning actors or personalities… Actors are different. They have to disappear into their roles on the big screen. And like it or not, most studio executives are going to take a long pause before hiring a gay actor, especially when that actor is young and maybe hasn’t already created a hetero image that sticks in people’s brains.”

In his letter, Franzese goes on to discuss how being gay and having a career in Hollywood, in his experience, did not seem to mix. He describes how he was rejected for a “lug of a guy” role because the casting director, who knew he was gay, was looking for a “man’s man.” He turned down clichéd flamboyant roles, avoided gay bars, became celibate for one terrified year, lied to anyone who inquired about his sexuality — even brought an “unwitting beard” to the “Mean Girls” premiere, he writes, smooching her on the red carpet for all to see.

But years later, Franzese explains, men began approaching him in public, telling him what an inspiration Damian had been to them. “Meanwhile, I was still in the closet,” he writes. “I had the perfect opportunity in 2004 to let people know the REAL Daniel Franzese. Now in 2014 — ten years later — looking back, it took YOU to teach me how to be proud of myself again.”

The letter comes just a week after the actor spoke with Cosmopolitan about the “Mean Girls” 10-year anniversary. In that interview, he revealed that James Franco was almost cast in his place, and that the character of Damian “probably doesn't realize he’s gay yet.” He added, “I mean, he knows deep down, but he’s still going through puberty and figuring it all out. He hadn’t dated anyone yet; he probably hasn’t kissed anyone yet. And I just think that sweet spot of vulnerability was something that made that character real.” That — and a touch of personal experience — we can now understand.