Inception actor Tom Hardy, who is only slightly less sexy than the film's star Leonardo DiCaprio, has come out to say that he has had sex with men. But I don't think he wants to be labeled as gay. He's engaged to actress Charlotte Riley (pictured) and he has a 2-year-old son from a previous relationship. I think he just doesn't want to be labeled. At all. And I like that.
Sexual labels are bad. All labels can be bad. I don't even like labels on my clothes. And although it might have come out wrong, perhaps Elisabeth Hasselbeck was trying to say the same thing when she said women become gay later in life for companionship.
Tom Hardy admitted that he wanted to experiment with "everything and everyone," but now that he's in his 30s (perhaps considered later in life for him), it doesn't do it for him anymore. Perhaps he had one type of sexual persuasion when he was younger (and that sexual persuasion was "anything goes") and now that he felt it was time to settle down, for companionship, he chose to be with a woman.
Of course I can't assume what Hasselbeck was trying to say — or what Hardy really wanted to get across by revealing his sexual past. But I can guess, have my own theory.
I think it makes Tom Hardy even sexier. It's healthy to be in touch with your sexuality. To not repress your desires and if that means you want to have sex with men, women, both, or just with yourself, then why muck up a good thing with a stereotype, a branding, a label?
I personally find men who are in touch with their softer and more delicate side extremely appealing. As enticing as when a guy can be all rough and tumble like a bearded mountain man. Those two sentences just turned me on. Just like Hardy's cute role as Handsome Bob in RocknRolla who had quite the crush on the super-manly Gerard Butler.
But the sad truth is that people are judgemental. Prejudice. People infringe on another's sexual orientation. For no reason — even when it has nothing to do with them.
Back when I was the Editor-in-Chief at Playgirl magazine, The Advocate interviewed Playgirl's 30th Anniversary Centerfold, Scott Merritt. He had been in a relationship with a woman in the past, had a child, and then decided that he couldn't hide it anymore and wanted to come out as gay. The writer, Michael Rowe, wanted my thoughts on Scott's revelation. I told him that I didn't know Scott was gay, but I also didn't ask. What mattered to me for Playgirl was that the model was sexy, that he could deliver on a fantasy in the pages of the magazine. He did that, so that's all that mattered. Some people found that odd. Or shocking.
The why or how or when pertaining to a person's sexuality is unimportant … especially for us as outsiders looking into a person's life — celebrity or centerfold or civilian next door.
I wonder what Elisabeth Hasselbeck would say about all of this? I also wonder how this affects Hardy's relationship with his fiancee, if at all. If my husband revealed this about his past, I wouldn't care. But if he told me this is what he wants in his future, I would. But that's just because I would be hurt he wanted someone other than me — regardless of it was a man or woman.
What are your thoughts?
Image via Splash News