'Mean Girls' star Daniel Franzese comes out.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 4/23/14 at 9:37pm

Daniel Franzese, who is best-known for playing Damian in 'Mean Girls' came out of the closet. He did so by writing a letter to his character.

“After the countless number of fans who have come up to me over the years telling me what an inspiration ‘Damian’ had been to them in their coming out process, I thought it was time I honored them and myself with the truth,” Franzese told EW about the decision to write the letter.

In the piece, Franzese discusses what a great role model the character of Damian is for gay youth, and how he wishes the character existed when he was that age. “When I was cast in the role of ‘Damian’ in Mean Girls, I was TERRIFIED to play this part,” he wrote. “But this was a natural and true representation of a gay teenager — a character we laughed with instead of at. (You can thank Tina Fey and [director] Mark Waters for that. I can only take partial credit.)”

There's more text from the letter in the link below.



'Mean Girls' star Daniel Franzese writes moving coming out letter to his character Damian

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/23/14 at 9:41pm

A wonderful letter. It's great to see that he's come to a place of self-acceptance, and a reminder that coming out is a personal, individual journey.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 10:33am

When was he in?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 3:57pm

He must have been sharing a closet with Sean Hayes.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 5:56pm

I assumed this was about Jonathan Bennett (did he ever "officially" come out, either?) But yeah, no big shock here. Good for him, and it's a nice letter (although, perhaps catty of me, I always wish these people would acknowledge that everyone knew :P )

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 5:56pm

And he attempted to play straight as one of the perverted rapists in the remake of "I Spit on Your Grave", where he met his tragic fate by having his eyeball plucked out by a blackbird...

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 6:09pm

I don't think Jonathan Bennett ever officially came out but he's friends with Kathy Griffin. Isn't that basically an admission of homosexuality?

I loved seeing gay old Damian playing a rapist in "I Spit On Your Grave." Such a convincing performance.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 7:27pm

I don't know if Jonathan Bennett every did a press release coming out, but he's certainly not living in the closet. I admit that I kind of assumed it was the same with Daniel.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 7:29pm

Some friends of mine said he was seen regularly at bars all over WeHo, so he wasn't exactly in. He just felt the need to come out in a bigger way.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 7:33pm

*cynic* To try to revive his career? I mean how else would he get back in the news, to even a small extent...

[Playbilly]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 10:24pm

Eric. You win the prize.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/24/14 at 11:16pm

Did we really need a press release for him??

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/25/14 at 5:02am

I know. He wasn't even the star of Mean Girls, so the OP's subject headline is wrong. My pet peeve is when people are called "stars," but they're just regional celebrities or have a minor role in a movie or TV series.