Jonathan Bennett used to be trapped in the closet, now he’s living the gay dream
new podcast.After moving to New York City at 19 years old, Bennett landed his first big acting break on the soap opera All My Children.
When a publicist for the series pulled him into an office and told him he had to hide his sexuality and stop going to gay clubs if he wanted a career, Bennett’s world was rocked.Faced with the choice of pursuing his dream of acting or living authentically, Bennett reluctantly went back into the closet. “It was the most awful feeling in the world, and that carried throughout the first ten years of my career.”Professional success in films like Mean Girls and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 followed, but eventually, the personal sacrifice was too much to bear.
In 2017, Bennett came out publicly, also revealing he was in a relationship with former American Race contestant Jaymes Vaughn.Since then, the couple’s journey has been an inspiring showing of love and dedication — and very much in the public eye.
When Vaughn proposed in 2020, the whole, adorable thing was filmed:And last year, the couple became the first same-sex couple to be featured on the cover of the wedding magazine The Knot:“From living in misery in the closet for a decade to being on the cover of the biggest wedding magazine in the world living loudly and proudly with my fiancé is something I never would have imagined,” Bennett wrote on Instagram. “I can only think about how younger me would feel, in small-town Ohio, standing in line with his mom at the grocery store and looking over to see two men in love on wedding a magazine.
