Actor Kal Penn has come out gay.
Penn, 44, is best known for his role as
Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar film series. He also
worked in the Obama administration in the White House Office of
Public Engagement.
Penn, who is promoting his memoir You
Can't Be Serious, told People magazine that he is engaged
to his partner of 11 years, Josh.
“I discovered my own sexuality
relatively late in life compared to many other people,” Penn told
the outlet. “There's no timeline on this stuff. People figure their
shit out at different times in their lives, so I'm glad I did when I
did.”
Penn said he thought his relationship
with Josh was a dead-end on the first date because Josh brought over
beer and sat down to watch NASCAR.
"I thought, 'This obviously is not
going to work out,'" he
said. "I have one day off from The White House and this dude
is unironically watching cars go around and make left turns? Next
thing you know, it's been a couple months and we're watching NASCAR
every Sunday. I'm like, 'What is happening?' I wanted the reader to
enjoy the love and the humor through all of those stories."
Penn added that his upcoming wedding
will be a compromise.
"Obviously I am engaged to a man
and our families will be there for the wedding,” he said. “The
big disagreement now is whether it's a huge wedding or a tiny
wedding. I want the big ass Indian wedding. Josh, hates attention,
[has said], 'Or we could just do quick 20-minute thing with our
families and that's it.' So we have to meet halfway in the middle."
Penn's book arrives November 2.