Newly out actor Colton Haynes is making us swoon—literally—on the cover of Out magazine’s September issue. It’s no news that Haynes is a favorite among many—he has an Instagram following of 4.9 million—but in the magazine’s latest issue, we get to learn about the actor beyond what we see on social media. Blair Getz Mezibov photographed the very fall-esque cover, while Grant Woolhead was on styling duty. Inside, the 28-year-old, who grew up in a small town in Kansas (population under 1,000), gets candid about what life has been like since moving to Hollywood at 17, his personal journey with his sexuality, and what his future holds. If you’re wondering who his ideal man is, he breaks that down, too. Hint: one of his top three crushes is married to a Lively woman.
Below are some of our favorite excerpts from the article, which you can read in full here.
On the heavy anxiety he suffered from shielding his sexual orientation…
“I feel really bad that I had to lie for so long. But I was told that was the only way I was going to be successful. When you’re young in this industry, people take advantage of you, and they literally tell you that your dreams are going to come true. If you believe that, you’ll do anything. And you do believe it, especially if you’re from Kansas.”
On his 2006 cover shoot for gay publication XY magazine which his Hollywood management later tried to wipe from the Internet…
“I looked like I was fucking gay-bashing. Like I hated myself or I hated the gays, which was never the intention at all. I was just young and trying to make it in this town and doing what these people were telling me to do.”
On blaming himself for his father’s suicide…
“I’m the last person in the world who would say, ‘Oh, my dad – pity me.’ But I was told that my dad killed himself because he found out I was gay. So, of course, I lost it and was like, ‘How could you say something like that?’ And no one will ever really know the truth. But my brother and my mom went to pick up my dad’s stuff, and the only picture on his fridge was my eighth-grade graduation picture. So I was just like, Fuck.”
On learning gay actor Noah Galvin of ABC’s The Real O’Neals slammed his coming out confession…
“When I came out, Noah tweeted, ‘Welcome to the family,’ and ‘So proud of you.’ I have the tweets saved on my phone. Then, all of a sudden, I’m the worst, I’m a terrible person, and I’m a shame of the gay community. I think just having enough nerve and guts to come out in any way is a lot. It was really an emotional thing for me. And for that to be discredited by someone who has never met me was upsetting. He has no idea what I’ve been through. And I can’t sit here and have a conversation about Noah because I don’t know him either.”
On his love life and ideal man…
“I haven’t had sex in – I couldn’t tell you how long. I wish I had more to tell you, but it just doesn’t happen.” Hayes says he’d want some combination of his three celebrity crushes: John Cena, Idris Elba, and Ryan Reynolds. “Someone who just descended from a mountain and said, ‘I don’t have any friends. Would you like to come live with me?’ I’d love that. I want to somehow have a happy ending. Or a happy beginning.”
