Paul rubens gay

“It’s shocking what horrible, awful stuff people think about me,” he says. Six years later, Pee-wee returned on Netflix for the film "Pee-wee's Big Holiday," produced by Judd Apatow and co-starring Joe Manganiello.

Apatow was a fan and "he wanted to bring Pee-wee back," Reubens told USA TODAY in 2016 while discussing the film.

That really backfired when I got arrested,” he said in the documentary. I lost control of my anonymity. After a long hiatus, the character was revived for the stage with "The Pee-wee Herman Show" in 2010, which ran in LA and on Broadway. A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit."

The emotional post featured a quote from Reubens, apologizing to fans for privately managing his health.

"Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years," Reubens said.

Revealing that certain mannerisms of the character were inspired by a boyfriend of his named Guy, Reubens explained that once his career started gaining momentum, his personal life went on the back-burner.

“I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet,” he says. To be labeled a pariah; to have people be scared of you, or untrusting.”

Rising to fame in the early ‘80s with his Pee-wee character, Reubens experienced considerable success with 1985’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and the CBS Saturday morning show Pee-wee’s Playhouse.

"My career would have absolutely suffered if I was openly gay, so I went to great lengths for many, many years to keep it a secret."

He sat down for 40 hours of interviews with director Matt Wolf for the documentary, which includes Reubens discussing his relationship with Guy, a painter he lived with in Los Angeles in the 1970s.

The actor chose his professional life over his personal life, and reveals that years after they broke up, Reubens visited Guy just before he died from AIDS.

“I lost control of my anonymity. "He was key to the return. He adds that in the 1980s, AIDS “scared the heck out of me.”

Need a news break? The late Pee-wee Herman actor’s death certificate, which was obtained by People on Friday, September 8, states that Reubens died of acute hypoxic respiratory failure.

Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!Paul Reubens dies at 70: The 'Pee-wee Herman' actor and comedian privately battled cancer

Reubens also tells a story of when he came out to his parents, and how his father wrote him an "incredible" letter: "Son, if you're homosexual, I want you to know that I hope you can be the greatest homosexual you can be."

The documentary also delves into Reubens' public controversies, which included being arrested for masturbation in a movie theater, possessing child pornography and agreeing to be registered as a sex offender.

“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labeled something that I wasn’t,” he said in the film, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated.”

Sitting down with director Matt Wolf for 40 hours worth of interviews, Reubens spoke candidly about his personal life as well as his experience playing the iconic Pee-wee Herman character.

Although Reubens died in July 2023 at the age of 70 after a private cancer battle, he made his intentions about the documentary clear.

“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was for people to see who I really am and how painful and dreadful it was to be labeled something I wasn’t,” Reubens said in his last audio recording made on the day before his death.

But after an arrest for indecent exposure in 1991, and another in 2002 for possession of obscene material that allegedly improperly depicted minors, he experienced a “devastating” fall from grace.

“People had never seen a photo of me other than Pee-wee Herman, and all of a sudden, I had a Charlie Manson mugshot,” he said.

(He later pleaded no contest.)

“I kept who I was a secret for a very long time. "I wanted to let Paul discuss his experience as a gay person and as a closeted person on his own terms, and he did so beautifully."

Reubens, 70, died in 2023 after a six-year secret battle with cancer.