Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson has revealed that he came out to his family after he was caught shoplifting gay porn.

The actor sat down with People magazine and explained that happened.

“The incident with the porn, I was a freshman in High School when that happened.” Ferguson explained.

The actor shared that as a teenager he’d go into his local book store, pick up some adult magazines and then slip them inside a more reputable purchase. He’d the slip both under his shirt and sneak out of the store.

His plan came unstuck when a newly opened store had more advanced shoplifting detectors and as he walked out the store the alarm bells rang.

“I shamefully showed them the magazines under my shirt and they took me into a backroom and I was held there and a police officer came and arrested me.” Ferguson recounted.

“My Mum and Dad had to come to the store and they had to show them the ‘nature of the material’ I was stealing and that’s sort of how I came out.”

Ferguson said he finds the incident funny now in retrospect but at the time he found it to be a traumatic experience.

“I always remember that phrase ‘the nature of the material I was stealing’ it felt so dirty and to have a person of the law say ‘this is a shameful thing that you’ve done.’ was really traumatising.”

Ferguson shared that his father found it difficult to accept that he was gay, and it took many years for his father to get used to the idea that he had a gay son.

The actor said when he first came out he couldn’t imagine getting married or having a long term commitment but now he’s happily been married to husband Justin Makita for five years.

“I’m very happily married and I love my husband.” Ferguson said. He and his husband founded a charity to raise funds for to support advocates for marriage equality in the USA.

Ferguson said if he could chat to his seventeen year-old self he’d say “It’s okay to be different.”

The video featuring Jesse Tyler Ferguson is one in a series created by the magazine to support the upcoming film Love, Simon which is about a gay teen who struggles to tell his friends and family about his sexuality.

The video series sees a number of well known celebrities sharing their coming out stories. Vlogger Tyler Oakley, Australian actor Keiynan Lonsdale and Olympian Gus Kenworthy.

OIP Staff