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Everett to Actors: Don't Come Out

Actor says being gay is his glass ceiling.

Always the supporting man, and never the leading one, Rupert Everett complains. The actor blames his secondary roles on the fact that he came out of the closet 20 years ago. He's now advising fellow gay actors to keep mum on their sexuality if they want to advance their careers. In the 1997 hit My Best Friend's Wedding, starring Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz, Everett played second fiddle to Dermot Mulroney. "[T]he fact of the matter is, and I don't care who disagrees, it doesn't work if you're gay," the actor said. The downside to being in the closet, Everett predicts, is a slice of happiness. "I may not be as rich or successful, but at least I'm vaguely free to be myself."