People keep asking Jake Gyllenhaal if he's gay. He's very open about the fact that people keep asking him the question.
Here's the thing.
What if Jake said that he is? What if Jake said that he isn't? What exactly will we do with this information if there was ever an answer either way? What would knowing the sexuality of Jake Gyllenhaal change?
There's a TV show in the US called Inside The Actor's Studio. It's presented by a guy called James Lipton and, for those of you that don't know, it's basically James asking actors, actresses, directors and the like about their careers and their lives.
In an episode which aired in the US this month (September 2013), Jake - who is doing the rounds promoting his latest movie, Prisoners - told James that being asked if he is, or the fact that some may wonder if he is, gay is "a huge compliment" for him.
Every actor or actress is subject to rumours as that, sadly, is part of the package.
Jake starred in Brokeback Mountain. It's about, basically, two gay cowboys. Does that mean he could be gay? Because he played a gay man?
No. And that is 'No' in the same way that in Robocop, Peter Weller plays a character who is "Part man. Part Machine. All Cop", Peter Weller is not actually part machine or a cop. Who'd buy that for a dollar?
In Prisoners Jake Gyllenhaal plays a cop. With tattoos. Using a theory that I will call 'The Brokeback Principal', maybe behind closed doors he's secretly a tattooed cop because he plays one in the movie. Because to play a cop he must be 'a bit' cop too, right?
Funnily enough, we never think that. We only think tend to that kind of thing when it comes down to sexuality.
Jake has had girlfriends. But there are times when Jake hasn't had a girlfriend. What does THAT mean?
It means that sometimes Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't have a girlfriend. Why? Who knows?
Jake Gyllenhaal dresses well and he's good looking. He's also funny. He's also, having met and interviewed him a few times, nice and polite too. That's clearly a sign that he could be gay, right? Being a nice guy who dresses well? He might also smell great too, I don't know.
Or it could be a sign that he's just a really nice guy, who is good looking, dresses well and is funny.
Where his sexuality comes into any of this is an absolute mystery to me.
So here's a mind-blowing scenario. I have touched his abs. Here's the proof!
So what does THAT mean?! It means nothing...
Now, what I do get is why Jake takes being asked if he is, or thought of as potentially being, gay as a compliment. Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't anyone? What are you. Me or they afraid of?
Ever since I was a kid people have asked me if I am, or thought that I might be, gay.
I grew up in Swansea in South Wales. I sounded pretty English and a bit posh - maybe even slightly camp, I was a bit of a nerd and I came from a family who were financially comfortable plus I was sensitive. I didn't play or like sports, I liked to do drama and many of my friends were girls.
I know what you're thinking... gay, right?
No. 'Gayness' and gay people have never been a problem for me and, if anything, it was something that I found, for want of a better word, interesting. I always found people that were 'different' to me interesting be it because of religion or race or sexuality - one thing it has never been for me though is a problem. I wanted to understand stuff about them even if the way they lived their lives wasn't for me, it certainly wasn't wrong, just different to what I did or knew.
Ever since I was a kid I have loved things like The Rocky Horror Show and still, to this day, it is an ambition of mine to play Frank N Furter in a full on stage production of The Rocky Horror Show.
Even when called a faggot or a queer or a bender or a bummer or a gay boy... the list of names goes on... in school (or out of school in the street) I was never, and maybe this isn't the right word but, disgusted by it. I was hurt, sure, because I was being bullied but the idea of being considered gay didn't bother me.
I had friends who, it later turns out, were and are, in fact, gay - both men and women. I didn't know then but it wouldn't have bothered me, they were my friends. It certainly doesn't bother me now.
I still love theatre, I'm still not sporty or a 'bloke', I like to think I dress well and I try and take care of myself with regular facials and the like. I love Dirty Dancing and among my guilty... no, PROUD... pleasures are The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pitch Perfect and Village People biopic, Can't Stop The Music. I am still a bit camp on occasion and I still have a large contingent of my friends who are women and many friends, both men and women, that are gay. I know... all the signs are there... I am happy to admit that.
I am married. To a woman. But if people want to think I'm gay, I certainly don't have a problem with that and, like Jake, I am certainly not offended. I admit, for a straight guy... even I look at myself sometimes and go, 'Really? YOU'RE straight?'.
If someone abused me for 'being gay', I would say that I'm not but I'd ask them what would be wrong if I was? If I saw someone else being abused for being gay, I would absolutely step in and I would ask the same questions.
If I dislike you I will dislike you because I think you're a dick, not because of your sexuality.
My point is this.
We can ask Jake Gyllenhaal, or any other actor or actress or director or producer or whoever, if they are, or mind being ask if they are, gay until we are blue in the face... but what difference does it make?
It's okay to be gay. And it's okay to not be. It's also okay to be bisexual. Or whatever. The most important thing is to just be a good person.
Be confident in your sexuality. Jake is.
What is his sexuality? It's none of our damn business, that's what it is.