Kyle XY didn't have a belly button or the option of being his authentic self.

Even though the belly button-less Kyle XY promotional poster did a lot to awaken a lot of queer people’s sexualities, it turns out that the show’s star, Matt Dallas, was being pressured to stay in the closet while the show was on the air.

In a new vlog with his husband, Blue Hamilton, Dallas talked about his experience being told to stay in the closet for the sake of his career.

“I was told to stay in the closet, not talk about my sexuality, to be on every red carpet with a girl on my arm because you could not be successful if you were openly gay in the entertainment industry,” Dallas said. Dallas is still acting and recently appeared as a pastor in the 2018 supernatural horror film Along Came the Devil. He and Hamilton also adopted a son, Crow, in 2015.

Though Kyle XY ran over a decade ago, from 2006-2009, the actor says that the pressure to stay closeted still affects him now. Dallas came out with a tweet in 2013, announcing that Hamilton was his fiance. Perez Hilton once linked Dallas to Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett in 2009, before either actor disclosed their sexuality to the public.

Starting off the year with a new fiancé, @bluehamilton. A great way to kick off 2013! pic.twitter.com/FQ9y4tHe — matt dallas (@themattdallas) January 7, 2013

“Because of the advice that was given to me to stay in the closet, I became very disconnected from who I was, and there’s a lot of residual stuff that to this day that I still deal with where I find myself [thinking] ‘oh, I sound too gay’ or ‘I’m acting too gay’ because it was so drilled into my brain,” he said.

At this point, Hamilton stepped in and said, “Be visible. Be very, very visible. And gay.”

The entire vlog is about 15 minutes, but you can watch Dallas’ response at the 12:30 mark.

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