14 DAY TRIAL // For the past 5 years or so, since he started taking bigger leaps towards becoming one of Hollywood’s most popular and critically acclaimed actors, there’s been a lot of talk about Tom Hardy and whether he was bisexual. The source of this speculation is an older interview he gave to Attitude, in which he suggested he experimented with men when he was younger, because that’s what actors do.
It was later suggested that the comments had been taken out of context and that Hardy was only talking about one of the characters he had done, but the issue was never settled. Hardy simply doesn’t appreciate questions about his personal life, choosing instead to focus solely on his art.
It’s clear that he would rather things stayed that way.
TIFF is about the movies, not the actors’ lives
Tom Hardy and the cast of “Legend” attended the Toronto International Film Festival 2015 (TIFF, for short) for the film’s premiere and a panel with members of the press. In “Legend,” Hardy plays a dual role, the Kray London mobsters, in what he dubbed his most challenging project to date.
Despite initial mixed reviews, there’s also been some award buzz around the film, so interest in it is quite huge.
As you can see in the video below, all these are topics that he will gladly engage on, whether it’s to talk about the challenges of playing 2 different guys in the same movie, of playing against himself, of trying to do justice to the myth of the Krays, or about his love of acting.
What he will not talk about is the innuendos that he may or may not be bi. One reporter forgets about his repeated refusals to set the record straight on the comments made in 2010 in the aforementioned Attitude interview (at the 28-minute mark), and he gets quickly shut down.
Hardy has never shown any inclination to discuss about his personal life outside his job as an actor, and it’s clear that he wants things to remain that way.
The comment that started it all
Asked if he’d ever experimented with men, Hardy’s response in 2010 was: “As a boy? Of course I have. I’m an actor for [expletive]’s sake.”
“I’ve played with everything and everyone,” he continued. “I love the form and the physicality, but now that I’m in my thirties, it doesn’t do it for me. I’m done experimenting but there’s plenty of stuff in a relationship with another man, especially gay men, that I need in my life. A lot of gay men get my thing for shoes. I have definite feminine qualities and a lot of gay men are incredibly masculine.”
The question was related to his playing a gay mobster, Handsome Bob, in Guy Ritchie’s “RocknRolla” (2008), which revealed he wasn’t afraid to take risks with his roles that other actors in Hollywood might want to try and avoid taking.
And it seemed like he admitted to experimenting in real life as well, and that he had had relationships with men. Hardy never spoke on the topic again, not even when the rumor mill went completely berserk, but sources insisted that the comment had been taken out of context.
