Australian Actor Harry Cook Comes Out

It seems that more and more celebrities and sports figures are coming out.  Olympic diver Tom Daley, obviously is one who comes to mind.  But there have been many more this year.  Towleroad has a compilation here of some of the more notable people who have taken the plunge and begun living honestly during 2013.  A new addition to this group who came out today is Australian actor Harry Cook who posted a poignant video on YouTube (see the clip above) as his way of making his announcement.  In the clip, Cook talks about the fear he experienced in deciding to be honest.  He also talks about the huge relief he felt once he took the plunge.

I continue to be contacted frequently by those who are either still in the closet as well as those who have recently come out.  Yes, coming out is a terrifying experience, especially if one has married and had children with a straight spouse.  But the stress of playing a role and trying to be what you are not  - often wracked with self-hate in the process - is so debilitating and, at least in my own case, made me someone who was not  always the best person to be around and certainly not the husband and father I wanted to be. I truly would never want to go back in the closet and relive the torment that it involved.  I wish the best of luck and happiness to Cook and the others who have come out this year.

For those unfamiliar with who Harry Cook is, Towleroad has these details:

Australian actor Harry Cook came out of the closet in a video posted to his YouTube account yesterday.

Said Cook: "Life's too short to be anything but yourself. So, on that note...I'm gay."

Cook said he was worried about coming out because he's an actor:

"I thought about it for a really long time and really stewed over it. I was like 'Oh my God, this could ruin my career.' All this crap… and then it kind-of hit me that that’s so ridiculous...The title of my job is 'actor'. It's fake. It's pretend. I'm not me. I know how to play straight - I did it all through high school."

Cook is best known for co-starring with Geena Davis in the 2009 coming of age dramedy Accidents Happen. He has also performed at The Corpus Playroom in Cambridge UK at the International Playwright Competition as the lead in the play "Russets" which went on to win the competition.