Matt Bomer Recalls Coming Out as Gay to Religious Parents

In a new interview with Out magazine, actor Matt Bomer recalls coming out as gay to his religious parents, saying it wasn't easy.

"There was radio silence for a long, long time, at least six months," he said. "And then I came home and we had the blowup that I'd always feared.

"But we got that out of the way, and we got down to the business of figuring out how to love each other," the 39-year-old actor continued. "I would say within a matter of years we started to figure it out. It was a struggle."

Bomer added coming out to his parents was partly difficult because of their traditional beliefs and living in Texas.

"I was raised in a conservative Christian household," he told Out. "We weren't even allowed to watch 'secular' television, anything that was deemed not proper for Christians."

Nevertheless, Bomer said his struggle helped him be a better actor.

"One of the ways I learned how to act, really, is by having secrets, and having to function as a kid in a public school in suburban Bible Belt Texas," he said.

Bomer went on to say he grew up hunting with his father, adding, "Subsequently I worked on a gas pipeline with my brother for a while - there were ex-cons with us. It was not an environment where it was safe to be gay."

Bomer, who has three kids with his partner Simon Halls, told Out his brother was a big help growing up.

"I had my brother to protect me, but as terrible as it may sound, it was a way I learned to select behavior and make choices, even if it was a ruse just to survive, you know?" he said.

Eventually, Bomer's parents came around to his sexuality and have been supportive parents and grandparents.

"I want to say that since then, my family's come around and they are amazing, incredible grandparents to our kids," he told the magazine. "Telling your family is a huge, huge deal. I really view my life as divided between the time before I told my parents, and the time after. And the decisions I made, and the life I lived, before and after, are vastly different. It's night and day."