We live in a weird age. It’s 2017 and while the LGBTQ+ community is highly valued in most parts of the world, people are still scoffing at their way of life (thanks to some douche weasel we refer to as our current “president”). Those in the LGBTQ+ world are still frightened to come out of the closet in fear of retaliation from those lower individuals who don’t “believe” in their lifestyle. In Hollywood, more and more once closeted actors and actresses have started coming out and are cheered for it. Actors in the past have often hid their orientation, fearing they would be type-casted. Sometimes, this still happens, but there are actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Stewart who are helping shatter that mold. Other franchises aren’t as forgiving as Hollywood though, like the sports industry where athletes feel they need to stay in the closet for protection. TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, here are 15 celebs we believe should come out of the closet already and finally be happy.
15 Tom Cruise
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before (trust us, if you pay attention to Hollywood, you have heard it): That Tom Cruise works out contracts with all the women in his life he plans on marrying. I’m not talking about a prenup, I’m talking about a full on “You-Need-To-Be-Married-For-X-Amount-Of-Time” sort of thing. Former wife Katie Holmes attested to this after running from him at full speed. Apparently, Cruise and his agents were on a hunt for a wife prior to Holmes and approached many single actresses (including Scarlett Johansson) with this particular contract. Many have longed believed that Cruise is gay himself but will never come out of the closet thanks to his religion (Scientology). C’mon, Cruise – it’s 2017. Get out from under the shadow of the church and take a chance to finally be happy for once in your life.
14 John Travolta
Poor John Travolta has had enough to deal with in his lifetime. Being gay shouldn’t be one of them, though. We know what you’re thinking (“BUT HE’S MARRIED!”), but that’s just hogwash. So married men can’t be in the closet? Ask any old republican senator and they’re likely to say “but marriage makes you above suspicion of course” (lies!) before they get caught having intimate relations in a rest stop bathroom with a massive biker dude named Tiny. I have a feeling this might be Travolta in a few years. Like I’ve said before, the man has been through a lot, especially when he and wife Kelly Preston tragically lost their teenage son Jett a few years back. Since then, he’s tried to shy away from the spotlight (other than saying the wrong names at award ceremonies and force-kissing Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet). Hey, John – it’s time, bro.
13 Aaron Rodgers
This one is a tough situation. The NFL is a brutal place and constantly likes to shoot down gay athletes while saying they praise anyone who decides to come out of the closet. Take the Michael Sam situation for instance: Sam was the first player to openly come out as gay prior to the NFL draft and his stock ended up falling. He was eventually signed to a big name team, only to not make the cut. He was bounced around from practice squad to practice squad before he eventually gave up even trying. Teams claimed it was not due to his orientation, but you know it had something to do with it. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers doesn’t really date and a lot of people started to take notice. Suddenly, he was hooked up with Olivia Munn for a bit and mouths stopped wagging. But to a lot of people, it just seemed like a rouse on both parts. They eventually broke up, and people assumed that maybe FINALLY Aaron will emerge from his closet.
12 Kendall Jenner
We know you’re gonna scoff at this one, but hear us out. Kendall Jenner is literally the only one out of the Kardashian family who doesn’t act like she has something to prove. She’s just all on her own, doing her modeling thing. Sure, there was that whole stupid Pepsi debacle she went into hiding from, along with that idiotic tee-shirt situation (where she and sis Kylie put their selfies over famous musicians), but who doesn’t screw up once in a while? Sure, people claim to have dated her, but it never lasts for more than a week or two. Chris Brown apparently has feelings for her, but she said she would probably have dated him in “another life”. Oh, and also, she appears to be head over heels in love with her own little sister Kylie. Who needs Game of Thrones when you have a real life siblings-lovin’ pair?
11 Olivia Munn
Before she started dating Aaron Rodgers, everyone also assumed that actress and former Daily Show correspondent Olivia Munn preferred the fairer gender over the masculine one. But then! Hark! She suddenly got into a serious relationship with someone who is waaaaayyyy beneath her (yeah, I said it – and I’m a football fan) named Aaron Rodgers. After their breakup, she went on holiday with just the girls and is currently living it up. If she’s not gay, that’s nice for her, but she seems way too damn cool NOT to be. She’s just a straight up bad a$$ woman who looks as if she came from ruling over all of Themyscira. This woman could take on an entire army of massive dudes and cut them down one by one with swift round house kicks. She freaking rocks.
10 Anna Kendrick
Here’s another amazing actress who doesn’t give two tiny rats’ a$$es about what anyone thinks about her. She’s just going to do her own thing and be hilarious about it. Anna Kendrick is too busy doing her own thing to pay attention to what gossip columns are saying about her lack of love life. Of course, when you don’t have a love life, are in the prime of your OWN life, and just doing you, the press assumes you must be gay. Are we adding fuel to this fire? Of course. Kendrick is unbelievably brilliant and talented that it’s hard to believe any man can measure up to her, let alone anyone else. If you follow her on social media, you’d understand. If she believes that coming out as gay will affect her career, chances are she’ll continue not to say anything. Until then, we can just settle for her being rad as hell.
9 Kevin Spacey
Ah, the ultimate supporting character turned main character. Kevin Spacey went from being a bad a$$ Verbal Kent to being a “HOLY CRAP, GET THAT MAN OUT OF HERE BEFORE HE KILLS ME” Frank Underwood. As anybody who has ever worked in Hollywood will tell you – Spacey is a chameleon when it comes to his work. His turn-around as the terrifying Underwood in House of Cards is brilliantly constructed and his chemistry with on-screen wife Robin Wright is indisputable. Since he’s never officially been in a relationship with a woman that we know of, everyone assumes he’s gay. But does he care? Nope. Like everyone else on this list, the man has too much money and too much fame to even give a proper eff. If he is in the closet, it’s his business and he treats it as such. No matter to him, he’s just going to keep terrifying us via Netflix and I’m perfectly fine with that.
8 Oprah
Ah yes, literally one of the most powerful and influential women in the entire world. Oprah Winfrey dominates on every single level possible and is so rich, I’m pretty sure she uses $100 bills as toilet paper. Sure, there are trickles of her dating life in the past that made its way to press: like her innocent relationship with her high school boyfriend Anthony Otey, college boyfriend William “Bubba” Taylor, John Tesh, and even Roger Ebert at one point in her life. And then she met Stedman Graham, who she has been supposedly engaged to since 1992. And then there’s her best friend Gayle King, who some believe has been the real love of her life. This of course was fueled by her appearance on the episode of Ellen DeGeneres sitcom Ellen where the title character came out of the closet herself. If she and Gayle aren’t gay, it would come as a shock to everyone.
7 Vin Diesel
He’s super hot and he doesn’t really flaunt around women he supposedly dates – that’s a surefire indication that the press is gonna start spreading stories of his orientation. People will be surprised to learn that actor Vin Diesel has been acting since 1975 and is actually 50 years old (might want to scale back on those Fast and Furious movies, old man). During all that time, the heart throb surely had some fine actress/model eye candy he escorted on the red carpet right? You’d be surprised to know that his personal life is his own and has really only dated one high profile actress, which was his co-star Michelle Rodriguez (who has since come out of the closet as bi). He’s been with Mexican model Paloma Jimenez for the past decade and the two have three children together. He is NOTORIOUSLY private and because of this, most believe he’s gay. He has said before that he comes from a “Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence” about his personal life. So, if he is, he’s not going to announce it anytime soon. Shame.
6 Bruno Mars
Everyone and their dog is in love with the frisky and feisty Bruno Mars – from women to men all over the world. The Hawaii native is straight across the board talented and it shows in his work and how he moves his body. The singer/songwriter/record producer/choreographer says that he’s been in a serious relationship with a model named Jessica Caban since 2011 and apparently they live together in the Hollywood Hills, but who really buys that? Like most young musicians of super-star caliber, this sounds like a front so he’s able to maintain his incredibly vast female fan base – a fan base that fuels his entire career. But does that make him happy? We all say that a man THAT good-looking, THAT talented, and THAT sweet has to be gay and while we might be wrong some of the time, we think we might be right on the money with Mars here.
5 James Franco
Oh, James Franco, you’re so unbelievably quirky, weird, and so chill that we adore you even though you sometimes make really crappy movies and are quite possibly the world’s suckiest Oscar host. His unwavering support of the LGBTQ+ community has often got people’s mouth’s wagging and his orientation is constantly being brought up in the media. He also is prone to playing gay characters on screen, so much so that he himself even started to question his own orientation. “Or you know what, maybe I’m just gay.” he said once during an interview. In a 2015 interview with Four Two Nine magazine, he commented on his orientation again and how people define it in general. “Well, I like to think that I’m gay in my art and straight in my life.” Wait, what? That doesn’t answer the damn question!
4 Zac Efron
There is such a thing as being too perfect. And Zac Efron knows this because, well, he’s one of those individuals who is too damn perfect. I mean, look at his freaking face! He looks like he was chiseled by the Greek Gods themselves and then brought to life. He looks like a freaking Disney cartoon prince! Unfortunately, he looks like he knows all of this too. Both Efron and actress Vanessa Hudgens dated after meeting on the set of High School Musical and were together until 2010. He then dated model Sami Miro in 2014 but that only lasted two years. Efron is still young and might still be going through his “straight phase” that some gay men go through. He’s experimenting! Either way, we wouldn’t be too shocked if he came out of the closet tomorrow.
3 Ryan Seacrest
I think the entire world pulled a Britney Spears when they found out that Ryan Seacrest WASN’T gay. A lot of people don’t know this but back in 2010, the television and radio personality started dating Dancing with the Stars star, dancer Julianne Hough, but the relationship only lasted a couple of years before they parted ways. Since then, Seacrest has been pretty low key about who he takes to bed. Everyone has always assumed that the man is gay, INCLUDING Hough. But no “Ah-Ha!” moment has ever been greater than when Britney Spears found out Seacrest is “straight”. Recently, an old clip of Seacrest interviewing Spears and Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am went viral and you can see Spears literally go dumbfounded when Seacrest says he “sprays his cologne on his girl”. You can see Spears look shocked and confused as she says the word “girl?”. Trust us, Brit – we were shocked too. Though I’m pretty sure it’s all just a beard and it’s only a matter of time.
2 Hugh Jackman
Oh sure, you’re a huge Broadway mogul and now EVERYONE thinks you’re gay despite having a wife. Why yes, yes we do. Actor and singing sensation Hugh Jackman is perfectly formed. He always has been and always will be well into his 80’s. About a year ago, this very perfection helped spark rumors that the leading man is a closeted homo(actually, they had sparked years ago but he finally addressed the rumors) and Jackman decided to “address” it to PEOPLE magazine. “I don’t really pay attention,” he said. “If someone’s going to spend their time saying, ‘You’re not really 6’2; you’re 5’10,’ I’ll tell them once, ‘I’m 6’2. Then whatever you want to believe, it’s up to you. We really only get mad when there’s an element of truth, right?” The man does make a good point, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop thinking it.
1 Miley Cyrus
Yes, we all know that actress and crazy melting-pot Miley Cyrus is apparently engaged to Liam Hemsworth, but she’s been engaged to him on and off for the past billion and six years. And seriously, that guy is eye candy so there has to be a specific reason why Miley hasn’t bit the bullet just yet and keeps breaking up with Hemsworth, one that she may or may not have discussed already. Miley has always been extremely open about her orientation and she’s attracted to all sorts of people and doesn’t exclude any gender. She also is very, very involved with the LGBTQ+ community and is constantly fighting for their rights (this doesn’t make her gay and ALL people need to support the LGBTQ+ community). If she does dump Liam one final and time and end up with Kristin Stewart, people shouldn’t be too shocked.
