25 Years Ago Society Thought It Was Ok To Out Actor Chad Allen, Then 21 Years-Old: ‘I Was Scared. Just Scared’

25 years ago, in 1996, the tabloid newspaper Globe and society, thought it was acceptable to “out” actor Chad Allen, who was then 21 years-old.

Boy Culture: Twenty-five years ago this month, Chad Allen was outed in the pages of Globe, the right-wing supermarket tabloid. Why Chad and not the many more famous, more established stars who were and are secretly gay? It’s easier for them to take down people with less clout.

He told The Advocate of the experience: “I was 21 years old when a guy that I was seeing sold photos of us kissing in a swimming pool to a magazine, a tabloid. I was 21 and working on a family-oriented TV series [Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman]. All of a sudden I get this phone call from a publicist saying the Globe is doing this thing and running this picture, and they’re gonna claim I was with a prostitute and all these things that weren’t true. So I was scared. Just scared.”

He went on, “All of a sudden there’s a lawyer; I’m stuck in a room with agents and managers and network publicists and lawyers sitting around discussing my sexuality. And I’m 21 years old, and I can’t discuss my sexuality! I didn’t want to be on the cover of a magazine, but I also didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to lie. I was absolutely convinced that whatever I did, whichever way I went, lying was not an option.”

Now 47, Chad is a psychologist. He has been formally retired from acting for over six years.