Neil Patrick Harris is looking back fondly on a wrestling fandom he kept quiet about as a kid and connecting it to a bigger piece of his own story.
In an interview with Sam Roberts for SiriusXM, the conversation turned to pro wrestling, and Harris admitted he secretly enjoyed WWE when he was younger, framing it in hindsight as an early signal that he was gay.
He pointed to the specific visual elements that stuck with him, the tight, oiled-up look of the performers and the physicality of the grappling. He joked that even at the time, some part of him sensed he probably wasn’t supposed to be enjoying it quite as much as he was.
I secretly liked the WWE when I was younger, because it was kind of a tell for knowing I was gonna be gay.
He continued:
It was just, like, tight shorts; they’re oiled up. Grappling. So it’s like, I’m not supposed to be liking this as much as I am.
Harris currently has a new comedy film, “Sunny Dancer,” which was released in the U.S. on September 18.
