Billy Porter: I Was Not Masculine Enough From The Age Of Five
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | April 28, 2020
In a new interview, out actor-singer Billy Porter talked about being his authentic self and his recent cover of Stephen Stills and Buffalo Springfield's “For What It's Worth.”
Porter, 50, is best known for originating the role of Lola in Kinky Boots on Broadway and playing Pray Tell on FX's Pose.
He has made fashion waves by appearing on red carpets wearing queer outfits such as the fitted tuxedo gown by Christian Siriano he wore to the Academy Awards.
During an appearance on SiriusXM's Heather B. Live, Porter told host Heather B. Gardner that he struggled with his masculinity for 40 years.
“It was the liberation moment because I had spent so much time in my life, in that masculinity conversation that is so prevalent in our culture,” he said. “I was not masculine enough from the age of five. … I understood there was a problem, I understood it needed to be fixed, when my family sent me to a psychologist because I was too much of a sissy. So, for 40 years of my life, I spent most of it trying to be masculine enough to get a job, to be seen, to vibrate in the circles that I wanted to vibrate in. … I just finally just took myself out of it. … I am more important than any fame or career or anything. My sanity is more important than any of that, so I'm going to call on that and I'm just going to be who I am and I'm going to let the chips fall where they may. … That has been such a wonderful part of this journey is to get to the other side of authenticity, to choose my own authenticity.”
Porter also said that he hopes his cover of “For What It's Worth” will push people to the polls in November.
“I grew up, I’m first generation post-civil rights movement and I also grew up during the AIDS crisis. Activism is in my DNA. It always has been,” Porter said. “And there was a time when musical artists in particular, there was this thing called protest music, in the sixties and seventies where artists really used their platform to speak truth to power. I'm an artist, this is how I do it. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a community organizer. I'm not a politician. I'm not any of those things, but I'm an artist. And this is how I speak. This is the platform that I have, and I wanted to use this moment in this election year to bring back the idea of protest music. I'm not afraid to lose my audience. I'm actually building my coalition and my supporters right now. This is who I am. This is what it is. Come on board or not. … It's time to show up and it's time to fight. Period. Our democracy is at stake and it's time.”