JAMES FRANCO: GAY RUMOURS STARTED IN SCHOOL

Actor, director, author and artist James Franco has revealed that rumours that he’s gay are nothing new and started when he was in school.

Franco is best known for his roles (some of which have included gay characters) in films such as Spiderman, Milk, Howl and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

He’s caused a stir in Hollywood by embarking on unconventional and edgy personal projects, many of which have gay themes at their core.

Most recently the 34-year old Academy Award nominated actor produced two films Kink a documentary about BDSM pornography, and Interior. Leather Bar, which explores gay cruising; both of which he has been promoting at the Sundance Film Festival.

Speaking to MTV News, Franco said questions about his sexuality began in high school.

“…these girls got mad at me and so they spread this rumour that I was having a gay relationship with one of my closest friends. And they even made up a little dance they would do in the girl’s locker room about me being gay. I still don’t know what the dance was.”

He added that he’s not too concerned about speculation about his sexuality. “It wasn’t like it was anything new. And in fact, it wasn’t something that frightened me, like if people think that, it’s fine. I really don’t care.”

The actor also commented about the hypocrisy surrounding the depiction of sex and sexuality in films.

“It’s hard to put certain kinds of sex in film. Now, I could sort of understand that if it wasn’t so easy to put other kinds of things in film, like violence. Obviously, there’s some weird standard here that is just illogical,” he said.

“[S]ex and sexuality are such big parts of our lives — the ways that we define ourselves, the ways that we interact with each other. Everyone thinks about it. Everyone knows about it.

“Even if you insist on living an incredibly chaste life and you’re chaste in your thoughts, that’s a conscious and concerted effort to keep sex from your thoughts. So you’re still engaging with sex even if it’s in a negative capacity. It’s a huge part of our lives. It’s part of being human.”

Franco, who is currently single and has said he is straight, has been in a number of long terms relationships with women. In 2010 he dressed in drag for the cover of Candy magazine, which was “dedicated to cross-dressing, transvestism, transexuality and androgyny”.