Dear Evan Hansen Star Jessica Phillips Comes Out at 50
Dear Evan Hansen Jessica Phillips recently spoke with People about her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, including finding herself identifying as queer.“When the pandemic hit, I was at the peak of all this self-discovery and exploration,” Phillips, who had previously identified as a straight, cisgender woman, told the magazine.Phillips, 50, had been starring in Dear Evan Hansen as Evan's mother until shows in New York City were halted in March 2020.
Her work schedule suddenly stopped.“The shutdown really knocked the wind out of me,” she said.The actor, who has starred in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Next to Normal, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Leap of Faith, quarantined with her child children from her ex-husband Nichols Rohlfing and then-husband Tad Wilson.She eventually booked television work and flew out to Los Angeles on her own.
In the isolation, she said, she learned more about herself in ways she never did before.Phillips now identifies as queer.“It wasn't about changing identities, rather expanding my identity,” Phillips shared with People.“That period of time [in L.A.] really was a beautiful experience for me and also really painful and scary and sad because, as you know, when we open ourselves to change and newness, there's loss attached to that, and there was a lot of loss for me,” she said.When she returned from L.A.
she broke up with her second husband.“That period of time [in L.A.] really was a beautiful experience for me and also really painful and scary and sad because, as you know, when we open ourselves to change and newness, there's loss attached to that, and there was a lot of loss for me,” she explained.Phillips told People that she had met theatrical publicist Chelsea Nachman the same year.
