Rupert Everett has admitted that wild sex in his youth was ‘fraught with danger’ during the AIDS epidemic.
The actor, 65, spoke in a candid new interview about his sexual awakening in London, which he still found ‘exciting’ despite the dangers.
Rupert – who is now happily married to husband Henrique, a Brazilian accountant – also talked about dating women in his youth because it was more acceptable at the time.
He dated the likes of Bianca Jagger, Susan Sarandon, Paula Yates and Béatrice Dalle ‘with varying degrees of success’ – but always knew he was gay.
He talked about his sex life The times: ‘I was stupid. I can’t really understand it and I don’t admire it. I thought sex was my liberation from my middle-class military background, but it was fraught with danger, not just because of AIDS.
Rupert Everett has admitted that wild sex in his youth was ‘fraught with danger’ during the AIDS epidemic
The actor, 65, spoke in a candid new interview about his sexual awakening in London, which he still found ‘exciting’ despite the dangers (seen in 1987).
‘I was walking on razors without knowing it. As a young person, I can’t really handle myself anymore.’
But he added: ‘It was really fun and exciting. I loved gay sex so much that I didn’t care who I had it with.
‘I wasn’t one of those people who just wanted to meet good-looking people. I wanted to meet someone. It felt so new, fresh and rebellious.”
He added that it was still not generally acceptable to be gay at the time and that in terms of possible physical or verbal abuse he might receive, he had to “be prepared for anything.”
Earlier this year it was announced that he had married Henrique.
He had previously rejected marriage and was even more scathing about same-sex marriage, deriding it as a “waste of time” and “extremely tragic.”
A friend told The Ny Breaking’s Richard Eden in June: ‘They recently got married.
‘Both are wearing rings and are clearly very happy. Henrique is absolutely charming. He’s quite quiet and likes to let Rupert take center stage.’
Rupert – who is now happily married to husband Henrique, a Brazilian accountant – also talked about dating women in his youth because it was more acceptable at the time
He told The Times: ‘I was stupid. I can’t really understand it or admire it… I thought sex was my liberation from my middle class military background, but it was fraught with dangers, not just because of AIDS.
Rupert is seen here with Henrique, a Brazilian accountant, whom he married earlier this year
He has spoken in the past with characteristic verve about marriage – and why it is, in his words, “not my idea of heaven.”
Everything to do with friends’ weddings, he explained in 2020, he found “repulsive”, and going to stag nights in the early 1980s was “one of the most repulsive things” he had ever experienced.
Warmly echoing his theme, he summed up wedding dresses as “horrible,” wedding cakes as “horrible” and lamented that “everyone breaks up” within two years of their wedding day.
“I think making a legal contract is very damaging to a relationship,” reflected Everett, who became entangled in his wild youth with John Hervey, later the 7th Marquess of Bristol, who died of Aids aged 44 after had inflated £10. 35 million on drugs, rent boys and other entertainment.
“A relationship should breathe and live and change, becoming something different every day,” adds Everett (left). But he did admit that his perspective had changed.
He stated that he planned to stay with Henrique ‘forever’ – they live with Everett’s mother and their Labrador, Pluto, in Wiltshire – and said he envisioned a low-key, simple wedding.
“It won’t be George Clooney riding a motor ski down the Grand Canal in Venice,” he explained. “It’s going to be very quiet.”
In recent weeks, the star has been promoting his new book, The American No, a collection of Hollywood-inspired short stories.
In March this year, Rupert said that if he had come of age today, he would have been “encouraged” to transition – and would now “be a woman”.
The actor said he was a “big cross-dresser” as a child and believed he would “definitely have transitioned” if he had been born into a younger generation.
However, the actor said he wouldn’t have wanted to be a woman because he loves “being a gay man.”
Everett told the Rosebud podcast, “I was a very shy, quiet child. I loved sitting in closets.
“I was a great transvestite, I would be a woman if this was today, because I stole one of my mother’s discarded skirts and I wore it and I pretended to be Julie Andrews’ daughter.
“This was after I saw Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, and that was really one of the big changes in my life.”
The My Best Friend’s Wedding actor admitted at the age of five that he loved “playing house in drag.”
He continued, “I put on her wig, and I put on her dressing gown, and I went out to the back door, came to the front door, and rang the bell and pretended I was one of the guests.
‘And I had one of her handbags and the first time they said, “Oh hi, what’s your name”.
‘And I came in and sat down in the drawing room for a while and after about five minutes they said, “Okay honey, time to go to bed now.”
‘I went upstairs, and as soon as I was in bed, and as soon as they were down, I jumped back up, put on something else, walked around the back, went to the front door, rang the bell and did it all again. ‘
Everett in character as Miss Fritton on the set of St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold with Sarah Harding and Talulah Riley
Everett said that when he was older and moved to London, he had a “fantastic time.”
He added: “I went to drama school with diamond earrings, I mean if it had happened now I definitely would have switched.
“I now think I would have been encouraged to do that and probably would have.”
Despite this, Everett admitted that he “didn’t” want to be a woman.
‘No, I like being a man, I like being a gay man.’
