Luke Evans opens up about childhood crush on rugby coach
Luke Evans played Gaston in the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast. (Getty)
Actor and singer Luke Evans has opened up about growing up gay and realising he had a crush on one of his teachers – despite not even knowing what being gay meant.
Evans, who is best known for his roles in Beauty and the Beast, Fast & Furious 6, and Dracula Untold, grew up in Wales and played rugby at school. But it might not have been the riveting game-play that drew him to the sport.
Speaking on the Great Company podcast with Jamie Laing, Evans said that coach in question “was a giant” of a man.
“He was a proper rugby player but a teacher by day. He was good looking and he had big muscles and he had a sports car with my name, Luke, written on the seatbelt,” Evans explained, laughing.
“And I remember thinking ‘Holy…’. Obviously, I didn’t think those words because I was 9 or 10 or whatever. But I was like ‘what is this?’”
Evans said he wasn’t particularly questioning whether he was gay, because that wasn’t a concept he was even aware of, but he had “felt something” he hadn’t felt before.
“A lot of gay kids, working themselves out, are not surrounded by stories of gay love. It’s difficult when you’re that young to figure yourself out,” Evans continued.
It turned out that the rugby coach was interested in Evans’ mother instead, which put a damper on the actor’s crush.
Evans first came out to his parents when he was 19 years old, which resulted in his excommunication from the Jehovah’s Witness church – which was how he was raised.
He previously said he felt deep conflict about hiding his sexuality.
Later, in his 20s, he publicly came out in an interview with the Advocate after making his mark in musical theatre.
Evans is now dating Fran Tomas, with whom he shares a clothing line called BDXY.
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