Rupert Everett says if he grew up today he would be encouraged to change gender and now want to be a woman after enjoying cross-dressing as a boy – but says: ‘I love being a gay man’

Rupert Everett has said that if he had grown up today, he would have been ‘encouraged’ to transition – and would now ‘be a woman’.

The 64-year-old said as a child he was a ‘good cross-dresser’ and believed he would ‘definitely have switched’ if he had been born in a younger generation.

However, the actor said he would not have wanted to be a woman as he loves ‘being a gay man’.

Everett told the Rosebud podcast: ‘I was a very shy, quiet child. I loved sitting in closets.

‘I was an amazing cross-dresser, I’d be a woman if it was today because I stole one of my mum’s discarded skirts and I wore it and I pretended I was Julie Andrews’ daughter.

‘This was after I had seen The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins and it was really one of the big changes in my life.’

The My Best Friend’s Wedding actor admitted when he was five years old – he loved to ‘play house in drag’.

He continued: ‘I put on her wig and I put on her dressing gown and I went outside to the back door and came to the front door and rang the doorbell and pretended to be one of the guests.

“And I wanted one of her handbags and the first time they said ‘Oh hi, what’s your name’.

“And I came in and sat in the drawing room for a second and then after about five minutes they said ‘Okay honey, time to go to bed now’.”

“I went upstairs and as soon as I was in bed, and as soon as they went downstairs, I jumped back up, put on something else, walked around the back, went to the front door, rang the doorbell, and did it all over again. ‘

Everett said that when he was older and had moved to London he had a ‘fantastic time’.

He added: ‘I went to drama school in diamond earrings, I mean I would have changed for sure if it had been now.

‘I think now I would have been encouraged to and probably would have done it.’

Despite this, Everett admitted that he ‘didn’t’ want to be a woman.

‘No, I like being a man, I love being gay.’