Jonathan Groff Looks Back on the Moment He Said Yes to His Authentic 'Gay Self'

Tony-winning actor Jonathan Groff opened up about the moment he won the struggle for self-acceptance and decided to embrace authenticity.

In comments to Parade, Groff recalled a time early in his career when, as a recent transplant to New York City and struggling actor, he was feeling despondent and reached for a Bible for solace. Realizing that there would be no comfort there, he took a stroll to Central Park, where he found himself gazing at the sculpted angel at Bethesda Fountain, Parade relayed.

The majestic statue, with flowing robes and spread wings, perches at the top of the towering fountain, which totals 26 feet in height and is located in the brick-paved Bethesda Terrace.

"I was feeling the magic of New York City, the magic of Central Park, the magic of the 'Angels in America' HBO special that had just come out," Groff related, referencing the 2003 two-part film adaptation of Tony Kushner's epic, queer-themed play.

"And feeling like I was also about to step into my gay self for the first time," Groff continued. "That was the moment – looking at that statue – that I was like, 'Everything's going to be OK. This is a magical place. I want to be here.' And now here we are."

That moment of contemplating statuary was not the only time a monumental sculpture inspired Groff in his coming-out journey. It was years later, in 2008, that Groff found himself looking at another towering figure – that of Michelangelo's David, a 17-foot-tall marble statue of a muscular, nude man carved in the early years of the 16th century.

Stopping over in Florence on an Italian itinerary that culminated in Rome, where he planned to meet his brother, Groff "went to see David at the Accademia Gallery," the actor wrote in an essay for Condé Nast Traveler in 2023. "When you turn the corner, there are rows of other unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo," Groff recounted. "These figures are so constricted, like they're straining to be released from the marble and fighting for air. I ached just looking at them."

"But they lead up to this perfect, liberated form," Groff added. "I started crying and wondered, 'What is it about this naked man that makes me so emotional?'"

Reflecting on that question, Groff concluded that it was time to find liberation for himself. "Only my roommate knew I was gay, because he was also my secret boyfriend," Groff wrote. He related how he "decided to come out to my brother – who is also named David," and how when the two had dinner after a day of sightseeing, his brother also had news to share.

"He told me all about this girl that he was in love with, who is now his wife," Groff recalled. "It was like he was coming out to me, because we'd never talked about relationships or sex or love in our entire lives as brothers."

It wasn't long after that epiphany that the actor took the last steps in his journey toward embracing authenticity. Groff "publicly came out in 2009 when he was dating late Broadway actor Gavin Creel," Parade recalled.

Speaking about Creel – and the moment when he determined to take that last step in coming out – Groff told Broadway World earlier this year that he had "come out of the closet personally" at the time, "But there had been no occasion for me to announce it publicly."

It was during their romantic relationship that Creel – who was openly gay and starring in a Broadway revival of "Hair" – "organized these buses" to transport people to the National Equality March in 2009, Groff recalled.

It was at that march – which David Mixner and Cleve Jones helped to bring about – that Groff decided to liberate himself from the closet once and for all.

"I remember we were on the buses and... he was painting, like, the peace sign on my cheek with the cast of 'Hair,' and we were all down there... and I really remember the moment of looking over at him with literally a bullhorn and feeling like, okay, am I gonna?" Groff said of his decision to embrace authenticity publicly. "It was such an essential moment. It was because of who he was, and how out, and how vocal, and how brave and, and, like, fearless and externalized he was, and wanting to kind of try to be as brave as he was."

Now a busy – and out – success on screen and stage alike, Groff has recently starred in LGBTQ+-themed and inclusive projects like "And Just Like That...," "Knock at the Cabin," and "The Matrix: Resurrections," as well as having been a lead in HBO's gay rom-com "Looking," starring in the film version of "The Normal Heart," and appearing in more than a dozen episodes of "Glee."

Groff's Broadway credits include a Tony-nominated turn in "Spring Awakening," another Tony nom for "Hamilton," and a Tony win for last year's revival of "Merrily We Roll Along." He's just been nominated again, this time for his work in the Bobby Darin jukebox musical "Just in Time."