ATWT actor reveals reasons why he waited to come out

[cassadine1991]

http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/news/van-hansis-reveals-why-he-did-not-come-out-publicly-while-on-atwt/2014/05/05/

[AlexElizabeth]

Van has always been a huge favorite of mine and I loved Luke (especially at the end with Reid), though I know some people found him boring. Him being gay was the worst kept secret ever, but good for him.

[Soapsuds]

This

NOT...lol

I have him as a friend on FB...so I knew before this....yes loved him with Reid..sigh..miss them and my show.

[KMan101]

Good for him for coming out but no surprises here. LOL.

[Vee]

"I thought people could buy me as a straight leading man. They could not."

There's your answer. And it's not about gay actors playing str8 in general, BTW - it's about Van Hansis.

[ChitHappens]

And if Reikart and LeBlanc think they are pulling it off well, guess again!

[YRBB]

Poor LeBlanc... he was fine and convincing until the show started losing its direction and his mannerisms got out of control. As soon as he was supposed to be some stud for Lauren, that was it. LOL

[Khan]

Poor Rikkart and LeBlanc. I know they try so hard to be convincing as desirable, heterosexual men. But...yeah, lol.

[Soapsuds]

Have you seen his work on ATWT?? It was obvious even back then.

[Vee]

I think Rikaart and LeBlanc did a good job doing what they do for many years. I used to buy them as those characters though I knew full well they were family. We buy plenty of gay actors playing hetero everyday on TV and film. But somewhere along the way, whether it's just age or their getting too comfortable and being allowed to indulge more and more of their own little bits of business onscreen, they became completely impossible to buy as virile hetero studs. I think it's mostly the latter. Nobody is telling those guys to take it down a few notes in their Incredible! Acting!

The most daring thing Y&R could do, if it wanted to be Y&R again, is say that not only has Michael been suppressing his bisexuality due to his love for Lauren for years - a sort of midlife coming out story - but that Kevin is also bi, or just plain gay and overcompensating.

[Khan]

I'm probably wrong, but I think VH has reached a point in his life and career where he knows he isn't convincing as anything other than a gay man, so he's decided just to ride it out for all its' worth.

[KMan101]

Well with Rikaart it's not like he's not out. But yeah, zippo chemistry with pretty much every woman he's been paired with on-screen.

[Soapsuds]

Leblanc is worse

[DRW50]

Other than some with CLB years ago I don't think he has much chemistry with anyone.

I also don't remember any P&G shows having openly gay (to the public) actors. Obviously that would have nothing to do with his decisions from 2011-present, but I always wondered if they asked actors not to come out to the public.

Someday I hope that we can fully move beyond the broad idea that if you're gay you can't have chemistry with ladies. Chris Bernau had plenty of chemistry with a wide variety of women on GL.

[Vee]

Like I said, plenty of gay actors play straight very well, especially on soaps, and have for decades - Chris Bernau was just one great example. But with these guys someone's become so enamored of them and their 'business' onscreen that there's too much of them in the character - they're pretty much just camping it up at this point. I couldn't count the number of times I would turn to Y&R last year in those big important police station scenes where Michael Baldwin was supposed to be Macho Dad, howling about his wife, his son, his family in danger and it was just hilarious. Who buys that?