Long before Sir Ian McKellen became one of the world’s most outspoken LGBTQ+ advocates, the legendary actor says he was once encouraged to stay quiet.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, McKellen reflected on a private lunch he shared with late Star Wars icon Alec Guinness, who allegedly urged him to step back from his work supporting LGBTQ+ equality in the United Kingdom.
“Advice From an Older Generation”
“He took me for an Italian lunch in Pimlico, where we chatted about this and that until he brought up the real reason for his invitation,” McKellen recalled. “He had heard about my work to establish Stonewall.”
At the time, Stonewall was fighting for equal protection and legal rights for LGBTQ+ people across the U.K. According to McKellen, Guinness believed public advocacy was inappropriate for actors.
“He thought it somewhat unseemly for an actor to dabble in public or political affairs and advised me, sort of pleaded with me, to withdraw,” McKellen said. “Advice from an older generation, which I didn’t follow.”
McKellen publicly came out as gay in 1988 during a BBC radio interview and has since spent decades pushing for queer visibility both inside and outside Hollywood. Over the years, the Lord of the Rings and X-Men star has repeatedly encouraged public figures to live openly, especially those still feeling pressure to hide their identities for career reasons.
The Conversation Around Coming Out Has Changed
In another 2025 interview, McKellen reflected on how dramatically attitudes toward coming out have shifted during his lifetime, especially in entertainment and sports. He shared that he has “never met anybody who came out who regretted it,” while also acknowledging that earlier generations often viewed queerness and activism as something that could derail a career.
The actor also pointed to the lack of openly gay figures in certain powerful spaces, noting there has still never been an openly gay winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor or an openly gay Premier League football player.
McKellen said he was recently reminded of his encounter with Guinness after seeing the touring play Two Halves of Guinness, which reportedly hints at the late actor’s possible “latent bisexuality.”
Now 86, McKellen continues to use his platform to advocate for authenticity and visibility, even as conversations around coming out remain deeply personal and complex for many queer people navigating public life.
McKellen recently confirmed he will return as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The film will be released in 2027.
