Facades are the entertainment branch of the industries.
-Ananyaa mehta
The term ‘in the closet’, is often used to describe a person of the LQBTQ+ community, who has not yet disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity. It is when someone is forced to keep their orientation or identity a secret or in other words, to remain in the glass closet by force!
Most artists are closeted because the people who manage them feel that if they come out to the public, they may loose members of their fanbase. At times, even the artists themselves feel the need to hide their identity,in fear of losing their fans. Often artists are given a ‘beard’ to hide their identity. A beard is defined as a woman who dates, or marries, a gay man to provide cover for the man's homosexuality. The term also applies to a man who does the same for a lesbian woman. They are in a fake relationship with someone just to hide their identity.
Celebrities, in fear of losing their fan bases and careers do not come out and prefer to live in a glass closet.
Most artists who came out in the late 20th - early 21st century, struggled a lot and even though times have significantly changed, artists still struggle and they are still afraid to come out. Many artists prefer to not label themselves, avoiding all sorts of speculation and hate
Closeting goes back as far as the 1920’s. William “Billy” Haines was one of the leading men in the film industry. He was in a relationship with his partner and refused to be a part of a fake relationship. After a lot of his movies became unsuccessful , he was told to get into a fake marriage with a woman, and when he refused to do so, his career ended.
Another example of a similar instance is Ellen Degenres. Even though she was not closeted; she struggled after she came out as lesbein over 20 years ago, in 1997. Less than a year after she came out, her show Ellen stopped and she was left jobless. No one wanted to hire her just because she was a lesbian. Despite facing such hardships, she is now one of the most successful talk show hosts.
The sad fact is that even though we live in the 21st century, artists still get hate for being themselves. They are not able to express themselves in the public eye in fear of their career ending and instead decide to hide their true self.
Is it really fair that they have to build up a facade, just to protect their career ?
Why is it that they are not allowed to be who they really are? Is it okay that they have to go to extreme lengths to hide their true identities?
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