Frozen actor Jonathan Groff came out as gay to his brother after being reduced to tears watching Michelangelo’s David.
When he was just 23 years old, Jonathan traveled through Italy on vacation after wrapping up his performance in Spring Awakening, the musical that made him a Broadway star.
He sped around the country sightseeing and made his last solo stop in Florence before heading to Rome, where he would be with his brother.
As he strolled through the Accademia, he was struck by the display of Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures, which seemed to him “constricted, as if straining to break free from the marble and fighting for air.”
Then he told Conde Nast travelerhe was shown the “perfect, liberated” statue of David, which prompted him to free himself by telling his brother the truth.
Turning point: Frozen actor Jonathan Groff came out as gay to his brother after being reduced to tears watching Michelangelo’s David
Iconic: He told Conde Nast Traveler he saw the ‘perfect, liberated’ statue of David, which prompted him to free himself by telling his brother the truth
“I started crying and wondered, what is it about this naked man that makes me so emotional?” wrote the Hamilton heartthrob.
“Afterwards I sat in a square writing a diary, thinking about how no one here knew me or cared about me, and I decided to go see my brother – also called David – the next day,” Jonathan recalled, saying, “Only my roommate knew I was gay because he was also my secret boyfriend.”
At Saby’s restaurant in Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori, Jonathan decided to tell his brother, but he was shaking with fear.
‘My hands were shaking; my voice was hoarse from talking, because I hadn’t spoken to anyone in seven days. But David seemed nervous too,” Jonathan said.
“He said, ‘Jonathan, there’s something I need to talk to you about.’ He told me all about this girl he was in love with, who is now his wife.
“It was like him coming out to me because we had never talked about relationships, sex or love in our entire lives as brothers,” Jonathan revealed.
“He did it perfectly, and when he gave me all the details, he said, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever felt this, and I’m wondering, what about you?’
Jonathan then ‘shared everything with him. We just showed ourselves to each other. It couldn’t have happened anywhere else.’
Back together: At the time of his trip, Jonathan had just risen to fame on Broadway in Spring Awakening, opposite Lea Michele, with whom he reunited last year
Soon after, Jonathan was linked to fellow Broadway actor Gavin Creel, and his love life in the intervening time also included Star Trek star Zachary Quinto.
Jonathan first rose to fame on Broadway in the 2006 musical Spring Awakening, opposite rising star Lea Michele.
Lea and Jonathan reunited when he found TV fame during his recurring guest run on Glee, where she was part of the main cast.
Since then, he has made his presence felt in a number of high-profile projects, including the Disney film Frozen and the original Broadway cast of Hamilton.
