Nearly a year and a half after Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens passed away from acute hypoxic respiratory failure at the age of 70, the late actor came out as gay during one of his final interviews.
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In the posthumous documentary Pee-wee as Himself, Reubens revealed he was gay after concealing his sexuality throughout his acting career.
Reflecting on his life before becoming Pee-wee Herman, Reubens recalled being in a relationship with a man named Guy from Echo Park, Los Angeles. He revealed that Guy’s vocal tics actually inspired some of his well-known character’s iconic catchphrases.
Reubens pointed out Pee-wee Herman’s “Mmmm! Chocolately” was from Guy, who tended to say “Mmmm! Buttery!” like a “Yoda-like” voice.
In 1981, he became the famous child-like character while performing with the Groundlings comedy troupe. After his career took off, Reubens decided to keep his sexuality private.
“I was out of the closet, and then, I went back in the closet,” Reuben explained, per the New York Post. “I wasn’t pursuing the Paul Reubens career; I was pursuing the Pee-wee Herman career.”
Paul Reubens said he last saw Guy while visiting in the hospital as he died from AIDS.
“To talk about seeing someone at death’s door… He probably died a couple hours after that,” he said about Guy.
While his career continued growing and led to appearing on Late Night With David Letterman, Reubens said he had “many, many secret relationships.”
“I hid behind an alter ego. I spent my entire adult life hiding I was a huge weed head,” he explained.
Reubens then added, “I was secretive about my sexuality even to my friends [out of] self-hatred or self-preservation. I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated.”
Paul Reubens Also Revealed That He Was Injured While Filming Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
Elsewhere in the documentary, Paul Reubens opened up about being injured on the set of his 1985 film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Reubens said the incident happened during the iconic “Tequila” scene in the biker bar.
“While I was up on the bar, I banged the hell out of my head on a beam,” he said. “It’s the take we used.”
He was offered his children’s show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, in 1986.
“I never really thought about being a children’s show host,” he continued. “But the moment I heard it, it felt right.”
The show became such a huge success that Pee-wee, not Reubens, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1988.