Ben Whishaw gets very candid about his sexuality in rare and revealing new interview

For British actor Ben Whishaw, being a “celebrity” never came naturally to him. For years, he shied away from questions about personal life, particularly his sexuality.

But not anymore.

In a revealing new interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, the 38-year-old actor says there was a time he “hated” himself for being gay.

Related: Ben Whishaw scores a Golden Globe, dedicates it to queer defiance

”There was a moment in my early twenties when I did not feel very good about myself,” Whishaw recalls.

“It was to do with my sexuality and not knowing how to be myself and hating myself. I did know [my sexuality], I just couldn’t tell anyone.”

Whishaw, who recently won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for playing Norman Scott in A Very English Scandal, came out publicly in 2013.

For a long, he hesitated to talk about his sexuality in interviews, he says, because he feared being “pigeonholed” in his career. In hindsight, he now believes those fears were irrational.

Related: Ben Whishaw wants gay actors to go straight…for money

“People assume there’s some juicy secret. But I don’t agree any more with that statement [about being pigeonholed],” he explains.

“I don’t think it’s the be-all and end-all, and since revealing my sexuality I haven’t had any negative effects.”

In 2012, Wishaw entered into a civil partnership with Australian TV and film composer Mark Bradshaw, who he met on the set of Bright Star in 2009.

Watch Whishaw’s moving Golden Globe acceptance speech from earlier this year below.

Read more from Source: Ben Whishaw gets very candid about his sexuality in rare and revealing new interview