Russell Tovey says his dad thought he could be ‘cured’ from being gay

Russell Tovey’s dad once asked him to take hormone treatment to “cure” him from being gay.

The British actor opened up about his experience of coming out to his parents in a brand new interview alongside his mother.

Tovey said that his parents struggled to accept his sexuality when he first came out, but added that he doesn’t think “either of [them] were homophobic”.

He told The Sunday Times Magazine: “They just didn’t know any gay people or anyone with gay kids. They had nothing to cling to.”

Being Human actor Tovey added that his dad, with whom he has a “great relationship”, thought homosexuality “could be cured”.

The actor’s mum, Carole, said that her husband, George, “had a hard time with it” and took “about three years to come to terms”.

Carole added that George said: “We’ll get him hormone treatment,” adding: “He found it hard to see that Russ was happy and we had to accept it.”

Tovey said that his reaction was due to being “scared about what my life would look like”.

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The Looking star said: “To him, being gay was a road of pitfalls and unhappiness; out of love he wanted to correct this weakness, to put cotton wool around me and protect me from all that.”

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