The 35 year-old actor came out in an open letter he wrote to his iconic gay character 'Damian' from the 2004 comedy film.
Daniel Franzese, best known for starring in 'Mean Girls,' has come out as gay.
The 35 year-old actor, who played an openly gay high schooler in the 2004 comedy film, made the brave decision to go public with his sexuality in an open letter.
But Franzese didn't write the letter to his fans or the general public, he addressed it to his hilarious 'Mean Girls' character Damian, and then later posted the document on Indiewire.
"Dear Damian: It's been a long time since our last encounter. Ten years to be exact," Franzese writes. "I was twenty-six; you were sixteen. You were proud of who you were; I was an insecure actor."
"You became an iconic character that people looked up to; I wished I'd had you as a role model when I was younger," he continues. "I might've been easier to be gay growing up. You WERE beautiful in every single way and words couldn't bring you down."
The Brooklyn-born star then tells Damian it took him so long to come out because he believed this role was harming his chances of getting different acting jobs.
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"When I first became an actor, I wanted to play lots of roles - Guidos, gangsters and goombahs were my specialty," he writes. "So, would I be able to play all of those parts after portraying a sensitive, moisturizing, Ashton Kutcher-loving, pink-shirt-wearing kid? I was optimistic. Hollywood? Not so much. I was meeting a 'gay glass ceiling' in casting."
Franzese eventually turned down several job offers to play other gay men and told Damian, "you had ruined my life and I was really pissed at you."
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"It wasn't until years later that grown men started to coming up to me on the street - some of them in tears - and thanking me for being a role model to them," he later writes. "Telling me I gave them comfort not only being young and gay but also being a big dude. It was then that I realized how much of an impact YOU had made on them."
Daniel Franzese addressed the letter to his gay 'Mean Girls' character
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Franzese concluded the touching letter with: "Perhaps this will help someone else. I had to remind myself that my parents named me Daniel because it means "God is my judge" So, I'm not afraid anymore. Of Hollywood, the closet or mean girls. Thank you for that, Damian. (And Tina.)"
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