An Interview with Adamo Ruggiero of Degrassi: The Next Generation and The Next Star - Page 2

"This has been such a big gay year for me," he laughed. "It's something I've been wanting to do in my heart for so long."

He appeared on the cover of fab magazine, went to the GLAAD awards in March, and supports The Trevor Project, a crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. "This is my purpose, the reason I wanted to open up," said the 22-year-old, who is juggling that advocacy with part-time university studies, season eight of Degrassi, and hosting duties on The Next Star.

"I was annoyed at everyone so petrified about the future and ignoring the present," he revealed about the decision to come out and fears about how it might affect his career. "I thought, right now I have this voice, and that might not be there in 5 years or 10 years."

"All the people I thought wouldn't be able to adapt or understand suddenly turned around and taught me something: that there's people willing to learn if there's people willing to teach. I've been blessed to have people be so supportive."

Article Author: Diane Kristine Wild

Diane writes about boring things by day, pop culture things by night. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news about Canadian television. Follow her on Twitter @deekayw for more random thoughts.

Visit Diane Kristine Wild's author page — Diane Kristine Wild's Blog