A beloved TV icon is opening up, proving it’s never too late to come out of the closet and into the spotlight.
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Of course, George Takei is a fan favorite of generations of sci-fi lovers for playing Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek.
Takei’s new graphic memoir, It Rhymes with Takei, explores his journey as a closeted gay man until he came out publicly in 2005 at age 68. In it, he reminds readers that coming out isn’t just opening a door—it’s a lifelong journey.
“I use the metaphor for a long, narrow, dark corridor,” the TV icon recently said on the Q with Tom Power podcast. “But then you come to a window that allows a little light in … and you keep walking down that corridor and you finally reach that doorknob and you make a decision: you grab it and you open it, ready for combat, if you will.”
Having endured punishment for his differences during childhood—spending part of his youth in two internment camps during World War II, where people of Japanese descent were unjustly incarcerated across the U.S. and Canada—it’s no surprise that Takei was hesitant to reveal his true self. Even as recently as 20 years ago, he believed coming out as gay would mean the end of his career.
However, the TV legend was pleasantly surprised to be welcomed with open arms after coming out.
“But the very opposite happened,” he admitted. “Media seemed to love it. And I started getting calls from CBS, NBC, ABC, from various magazine periodicals. They wanted to know the story behind gay George Takei.”
The Beloved TV Actor Compared Being Closeted to His Internment Camp Experience
Of course, Takei grew up in a much different America.
He spent his childhood in two internment camps during the Second World War. After the war, his family moved to a low-income neighborhood in Los Angeles. There, he realized he was attracted to other boys.
“I decided I didn’t want to be different again,” the TV actor recalled. “I started acting like the other boys.
In sharp contrast to his openly gay lifestyle of the past 20 years, Takei drew parallels between his experince living internment camps and being closeted in his formative years.
“I was able to build another kind of barbed wire fence. An invisible barbed wire fence that kept me confined in my body and not visibly identifiable,” he explained.
However, his experience with Hollywood after coming out has been nothing but positive.
“They wrote roles, like on The Big Bang Theory, for gay George Takei in my Star Trek uniform. And my career blossomed,” he said.