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Howard Bragman to Host ‘Coming Out’ TV Show

Posted by: Natasia Rose on August 3, 2010.

: Image by greginhollywood via Flickr

08/03/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Would you come out on a National TV show? Would you want to watch B or D list celebrities do it? Howard Bragman, celebrity publicist, thinks you would. Bragman specializes in helping celebrities come out in the media without damaging their careers or in some cases, using it to rejuvenate their careers. Bragman, a happily married gay man, has helped celebrities such as country music star Chely Wright, basketball star Sheryl Swoopes, actress Meredith Baxter, Dick Sargent (I Dream of Genie) and Amanda Bearse (Married…With Children). More controversially, Bragman has represented Isiah Washington after he called gay Grey’s Anatomy co-star a “faggot.”

Bragman sat down with EW to talk about his work and his new show.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What would you say to folks who respond to the concept of Coming Out by saying “What’s the point of this show? We don’t need to know about these people’s personal lives!”?
HOWARD BRAGMAN: Oh come on, we love knowing about people’s personal lives! Look at your sister publication, People magazine! I mean, we want to know every detail, every nuance. Heterosexuals don’t seem to be ashamed about selling wedding pictures and baby pictures, and we have to start telling our stories, too. And you know what? If you don’t want to know about it, we have this wonderful thing called the remote control: Use it!

Are you envisioning this as a live show, where people pop out from behind a curtain and say “Hey, I’m gay!”? Or will it be more of a behind-the-scenes look as they go through the planning and process of coming out?
The latter. It’s going to be very documentary-esque. We’re going to be telling people’s stories, and you have to do that with a certain amount of sensitivity. You know as well as I do, none of us gets out unscathed from coming out and growing up gay. I don’t care if you’re the best looking kid in the world and go to the most liberal school and have the best parents: It still screws your head up to some extent, and we all get a little damaged as a result of it. And hence we get stronger and more creative, and lots of good comes out of it, but it’s not easy.

Bragman also believes in coming out, as opposed to staying in the closet. He believes that you will live a happier life as an out person.

That said, we’re at a time when Adam Lambert is openly gay and in the midst of a very successful summer tour, and Neil Patrick Harris is out and up for an Emmy playing a straight man. How big a consideration for your clients is the fear of losing work or income if they do go public with their homosexuality?
Everybody worries. Music it seems to be less of an issue, though in Chely Wright’s case, she had legitimate fears about coming out in country music. In acting, it’s an issue. But it’s all a balancing act. These kids come to me, they’re 25 and want to be the next great action star, and they’re gay, and they’re scared to death. Well, my advice is, play the odds. Odds are you’ll have a happier life if you’re out than if you’re a closeted action star. But it’s a shockingly personal decision. I will tell you, though, as I talk to people and cast this show, there’s a big difference between having my phone ring and having someone say “I’m coming out, can you help me?” and me calling someone and saying “Have you every thought of…” [Laughs.]

Bragman also believes in the power of celebrities coming out, in order to serve as role models or to help others come out.

Seriously, though, why do this show, and why now?
I want people to understand that standing up and saying “Yes, I’m gay” is a huge deal. Right after Chely Wright taped Oprah, five days after she came out, she found out that at the little high school she went to in Kansas, three kids went to the guidance counselor and said, “We’re gay. In honor of Chely, we’re coming out. We’re dealing with it.” And the high school promised them a safe place to learn. That was huge for Chely. That made it all worth while. We have to understand what the suicide rates are for gay teens, and the damage that some of the hatred in the world does to people. We’re in a country that’s very divided on this issue, but it’s not okay to be homophobic; it’s that simple. If we change a few minds, then the show has been successful, no matter what the ratings are. You used the term “post-gay world” when you blogged about the show last week, and some people disagreed with you. But my theory is the revolution is over; we’re now in the evolution. Evolutions take longer and produce fewer results than revolutions, but we’re getting changes incrementally.

[Source]

In the beginning, I was wary of the concept of the show. After reading Bragman’s interview, he seems like a responsible man who is genuinely trying to help people survive the coming out process with their career intact as well as normalizing ‘gay’ to the mainstream. Look for “Coming Out” on A&E at the end of this year.