Chris Colfer Reveals the Scary Truth Behind Playing “the Gay Kid on Glee”

Chris Colfer is reflecting on the challenges he faced after becoming famous through the hit TV show Glee. The 35-year-old actor and writer gained worldwide recognition in 2009 when he played Kurt Hummel, an openly gay teenager, on the Fox musical series. While the role brought him fame, it also came with unexpected difficulties.

In a recent interview on the Syndicate X Library YouTube series Books That Changed My Life, Colfer explained how quickly his life changed. “I loved pretending… I loved creating other people, creating characters. I loved storytelling. I never in a million years thought that fame would have any part of my career at all… It got really scary really fast,” he said.

He added that playing an openly gay teenager during that time was not widely accepted and brought serious personal risks. “It was not welcome. And the death threats and the security risks started almost immediately. I became very agoraphobic.”

Colfer emphasized how much the world has changed since then. “It’s hard to explain now because the world has changed for the better so much that sometimes people don’t really believe me… but it was not okay to be gay back then, in the early 2000s,” he said.

He shared that late-night talk show hosts, politicians, and even pastors publicly criticized him simply because of his role. “There was no one defending me. There was no one coming to my rescue,” Colfer said.

He also recalled how people would dismiss his struggles, saying, “Well, what do you expect? You’re the gay kid on Glee. This is just what’s going to happen.”

Colfer’s reflections highlight how much visibility can come with serious personal cost, especially when representing marginalized communities. Playing Kurt was groundbreaking, but it came with fear and isolation. It’s a reminder that the early 2000s were a very different time for LGBTQ+ representation on television.

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