Oscar/Tony Winning Actor Joel Grey Comes Out
In an exclusive interview with People Magazine out this Friday, Joel Grey talks the first time about his sexuality.
"I don't like labels," says the Oscar & Tony winner, "but if you have to put a label on it, I'm a gay man."
The 83-year old Grey was married for 24 years and raised two children. His sexuality was not a secret to his friends and families, but this marks the first time he's spoken publicly about it.
"All the people close to me have known for years who I am," Grey tells PEOPLE. "[Yet] it took time to embrace that other part of who I always was."
According to People, Grey recalled growing up in Cleveland, the son of noted actor-comedian Mickey Katz, in an era where gays were derided, if spoken of at all. He recalls "hearing the grownups talk in the next room, my mother included, talking derisively about 'fairies' and men being dragged off to jail and even worse for being who they were."
But, he added, "I came to realize, along with being attracted to girls, I had similar feelings for boys."
But it was something he kept hidden. For 24 years he was married to actress Jo Wilder, a period he calls "the happiest in his life." They rose two children: actress Jennifer Grey ("Dirty Dancing") and a son, Jef, a chef.
"I feel very happy for my dad that he has come to a point in his life where he feels safe and comfortable enough to declare himself in a public way as a gay man," Jennifer told PEOPLE. "Mostly because the more people are free to own their true nature and can hopefully come closer to love and accept themselves as they really are, no matter what age, no matter how long it takes, to finally be free of the lies or half truths, it is freedom."
Co-stars from some of his best-known successes concurred.
"He is so alive and such a force on stage," said his Cabaret costar Liza Minnelli. "It was just tops working with him."
And Bernadette Peters, with whom he starred in the musical "George M!, agreed. "He won an Oscar and a Tony for his iconic role in 'Cabaret,' and now he's at an interesting time in his life," she says. "He can look at how he's lived and how he can impact other people. It's a whole attitude towards life and his is one of joy."
In recent years, Grey has become a professional photographer with two works hanging in the Whitney Museum in New York City. His next photo book will come out later this year, as will his upcoming memoir.
He also continues to gain new fans from rolls on such shows as "Private Practice" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
"Teenage girls stop me on the street," says Grey. "I'm a very happy guy. I'm still cookin'."
For more from Grey, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.