Ian McKellen: Shakespeare Enjoyed Sex With Men

By Jeremy Kinser

Ian McKellen X390 (GETTY) | ADVOCATE.COM

“Shakespeare obviously enjoyed sex with men as well as women,” says esteemed actor Sir Ian McKellen.

New York Post columnist Cindy Adams reports the 72-year-old actor, who has portrayed a number of leading Shakespearean characters including Macbeth and King Lear, as saying, “No doubt Shakespeare was gay. His predilection was evident from his works. An unmistakenly feminine portrait of his patron Henry Wriothesley adds evidence that early sonnets to ‘fair youth’ were probably meant for males.”

McKellen continues, adding, “Married, with children, he left his wife in Stratford to live in London. I’d say he slept with men. The Merchant of Venice, centering on how the world treats gays as well as Jews, has a love triangle between an older man, younger man and a woman. And complexity in his comedies with cross-dressing and disguises is immense. Shakespeare obviously enjoyed sex with men as well as women.”

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  1. just-wear-clothes reblogged this from projectqueer
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  3. zarabithia reblogged this from projectqueer and added:
    A note: If you genuinely believe that Shakespeare enjoyed having sex with “men and women,” then you turn around and say...
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  9. fulltaildiva-loki reblogged this from gokuma and added:
    I even wrote an essay about Shakespeare’s sexuality in High School. XD But thanks, Sir McKellen, for saying it again ^^
  10. gokuma reblogged this from projectqueer and added:
    How is this, you know, news? I mean - I get that it becomes more newsworthy when a famous person says it, but the fact...
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