Luke Evans sobs as he reveals moment he told very religious parents he was gay

Hollywood star Luke Evans opened up about accepting his sexuality while growing up a Jehovah's Witness and opening up to his religious parents

Luke Evans didn’t hide his emotions as he reflected on his childhood and his journey with sexuality during a moving podcast interview.

The Hobbit star, 45, spoke to host Jack Guinness on Queerphoria, and spoke about growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness while battling with his internal realisation of being gay. Opening the interview, Luke explained how he was born to a young couple who had just converted to being Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that religion played a large part in his memories of early life.

“I would hear these stories… about the fact that there were gay people, and that’s why they were being murdered by God. So, you know, you hear that from a young age, you just [mimes zipping mouth shut] and suffer in silence,” Luke said of “terrifying” tracts from his childhood Bible book.

“Because what’s the other option? There was no other option. The other option was I would be thrown out, and I thought ‘I can be thrown out at 10, I can’t be thrown out at 12, so what do I do?’ So I just stayed quiet, I couldn’t tell anyone. So yeah, a very confusing, complicated time to realise you’re different from everyone else.”

The Dracula Untold actor continued: “And realising that you couldn’t talk to anybody about it because everyone around you was of a belief that what you were understanding that you were was the worst thing ever. That you were going to die, you were disgusting, God hates you, you’re as bad as a murderer. Those kinds of words were in my head all the time.”

Luke also read out a tract from his new memoir, ‘Boy From The Valleys: My Unexpected Journey,’ in which he came out to his mother. He explained that while he wasn’t thrown out as expected, his parents still had to grapple with how their religion represented homosexuality.

“I was painfully aware that to my mother what I just told her was effectually like holding my suicide note,” Luke said of his confession. “I was gay, so I would die at Armageddon. To her it was as simple as that.” He read aloud: “I knew she wasn't upset about the fact I liked men, but because the being gay meant that while she and dad got to live in paradise on earth, they were going to lose me. It's something my parents still believe to this day.

“Their religion has brought them an amazing community and many wonderful things, yet it’s also given them this terrible cloud that hangs over them everywhere they go. ‘Don’t forget, you’re going to lose your son at Armageddon and then you’ll never see him again.’ I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

Luke's later read: “Mam did try to bring up religion during our conversation. As a Jehovah's Witness it was her duty to protect the flock from any rotten apples and as an openly gay man, I was right up there with the worst of humanity. Part of me still feared my mother might turn her back on me but during the course of that conversation I was beginning to believe that she wouldn't.”

The Hollywood star began to tear up as he continued to read, admitting that revisiting the memories was still difficult. “When we got back to the house, mam took me in her arms and I felt so…” he started again, before apologising as he struggled to continue.

“'I felt so much love and acceptance in that hug and I started to cry. Lying in bed that night, my overwhelming emotion was one of relief. Finally one of the two people I love most in the world knew the real me.” He finished the emotional tract: “Mam now understood the trauma I had suffered over the years. I no longer needed to hide who I really was.”

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