Alan Ball, the creator of the HBO
supernatural series True Blood, came out late in life and says
his mother freaked out when he told her.
Ball is leaving the show after five
seasons.
“I feel like the show is in very good
hands, and I look forward to watching it next year,” Ball told
NPR's All Things Considered. “I just look forward to not
working as hard.”
Ball called the show's parallels to the
gay rights movement “window-dressing that makes it contemporary.”
“I feel like if the show was 50 years
ago, it would be civil rights; if it was 100 years ago, it would be
women's rights.”
On coming out, Ball said he knew he was
gay in his early 20s but hesitated telling his mother until he was
33.
She “grabbed her head like it was
going to fly off her body,” then pleaded, “'Oh, God has dealt me
some blows in this life. Please don't tell anybody in my family
until I'm dead, which won't be much longer now.'”
“I've got to giver her credit,” he
added. “She was born in 1913, and it's difficult for somebody
born in 1913 to, I think, immediately embrace their child. It may
not have been immediate, but she definitely did embrace me. Telling
her was the single best, most positive step I took toward mental and
emotional well-being, and I've never regretted it.”