I suspect that it is no coincidence that she has come out after her peak earning years (as a woman in front of the camera in Hollywood) are behind.
Having said that I don't think there is any obligation, I also don't really doubt that, at least initially, it was a form of fear that kept her from saying anything. She came to fame 30 years. If she'd come out in the early '80s it really would have been scandalous an probably career threatening.
And so you hide it. Hollywood has always been reasonably open about homosexuality so long as you didn't talk about it for the cameras. And times change and being gay isn't as huge an issue as it once was but now should you stand up and say "yes, I'm gay" it may not be a scandal but it will be big press since now you've been hiding it for 30 years, everybody gets to say "yep, I told you" and really as a mature, intelligent, reasonably private person, why would you eagerly jump into that fire?
|