'Love, Simon' Star Joey Pollari Comes Out is Gay in New Interview

Actor Joey Pollari, who stars in the new coming-of-age film "Love, Simon" as Lyle, came out as gay this week in a new interview with The Advocate.

Pollari, who plays a closeted high school athlete on ABC's "American Crime," said he has been out to his family and friends for years but decided to come out as gay to the public. The 23-year-old actor suggested he was partly inspired by "Love, Simon," where the titular character also struggles with coming out. He said his experience as a teen was similar to the teen in the movie.

"The only part that was difficult was me coming out to myself. And I think that is the most difficult coming out," Pollari told The Advocate.

"A lot of the trouble was self-shame. I do believe a system of power, of patriarchy, of masculinity, did impact me," he added. "The greatest difficulty I found was that it didn't match my idea of myself.

"It seemed incongruent with the future I imagined for myself, the identity I had struck up with others," the actor continued. "The interplay between me and women, me and men, now suddenly seemed entirely different. That just didn't seem fair or right."

Pollari said while he was still in the closet, he was haunted about his future as an out gay man.

"On the other side, it's a lot plainer than I thought," he told The Advocate. "The real scary stuff and the real exciting stuff is falling in love with someone. That's the prize of it."

He added the other prize of coming out is "loving oneself."

Click here to read Pollari's full interview.