'I Knew Myself at a Young Age': Jonathan Bailey Gets Candid With Elton John About Coming Out

Jonathan Bailey has spoken candidly about his experience coming out as gay. The "Wicked" star opened up in conversation with Elton John at the inaugural Elton John Impact Awards.

Jonathan Bailey sat down with Elton John to reflect on what it truly meant to step into the world as an openly gay man — and his answer was far more layered than anyone might have expected.

The conversation unfolded at the inaugural Elton John Impact Awards, an event honouring Bailey and other pioneering LGBTQ+ figures and prominent allies.

John — himself openly gay — turned to his fellow honouree with a pointed question: had Bailey ever felt pressured to keep his sexuality hidden? Had he been scared? Or had he simply felt secure enough that it barely registered?

Bailey's response was disarmingly honest: it was a combination of all three.

"I think there's so much nuance to it," he said. "In a way, I feel innately that I knew myself at quite a young age actually, and the hardware is one of confidence. And then of course, you just take on these stories and these narratives that are sort of like cobwebs."

He found an early outlet in acting. Performing gave him a space where he could be fully present and truthful — free from the constant self-monitoring that came with navigating how others might interpret his words or mannerisms as markers of his sexuality.

"And the closer I got, I found acting," he added.

As acting evolved from a hobby into a serious career pursuit, Bailey grew increasingly conscious of the unspoken limitations placed on queer performers in the industry.

"I was well aware that [of] the possibilities and the limits of queer actors and what that means to an audience and whether that bleeds into commerce and how that affects it," he said. "So yeah, I think when I was in my early twenties, there was definitely an understanding that, to be gay would be a hindrance."

But ultimately, the prospect of concealing his true self felt far more costly than any professional risk.

"I wasn't gonna not hold my boyfriend's hand in the street, and that was something that I felt so strongly in an animal sense," he said. "And of course if that meant that it was gonna impede any potential work, then I was willing to take that risk."

Bailey acknowledged how fortunate he feels to be navigating his identity in a far more accepting era than the one John came of age in. For his part, John reflected that growing up in the 1950s, he knew no openly gay people — not even within his own family. It wasn't until he was 23 that he had his first gay experience.

Bailey also pulled back the curtain on the films and TV productions that essentially sparked his gay awakening. He cited the British series "This Life," "The Little Mermaid," and "Brokeback Mountain" — the latter of which he watched at least 15 times.

"But even though the stories itself were painful, it was just enough to see actors performing them, which just shows how bread-crumbed I think we were, at that point," he said of gay representation in the media.

The Elton John Impact Awards were presented by iHeartRadio and P&G, in partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Brandi Carlile's Looking Out Foundation. Other honourees included Laverne Cox, Melissa Etheridge, Billie Jean King, Orville Peck, and Chappell Roan.