Nathan Lane Recalls How Robin Williams Protected Him From Discussing His Sexuality On Oprah Winfrey’s Show
Nathan Lane is recalling the sweet moment when Robin Williams saved him from having to talk about his sexuality when he wasn’t ready to do so.
In an upcoming interview on “Sunday TODAY With Willie Geist”, the 67-year-old actor fondly remembered the time he and Williams were set to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to promote “The Birdcage”, but before doing so, he turned to Williams and told him why he was feeling nervous. “I said to Robin beforehand … ‘I’m not prepared to discuss, you know, that I’m gay on national television.
I’m not ready,'” Lane says, before revealing Williams told him not to worry. Lane admits not talking about his sexuality was a bit of a challenge, considering his character in the 1996 comedy, Albert Goldman, is an openly gay man who stars in a South Beach drag club owned by his partner, Armand Goldman, played by Williams, who tragically died in August 2014. “And so then, of course she [Winfrey] was like, ‘How come you’re so good at that girlie stuff?
Are you worried about being typecast?'” Lane recalls. “And then Robin sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah and goes off on a tangent and protects me because he was a saint.” To be fair, Lane says he doesn’t think Winfrey was trying to out him as a gay man.
