Wentworth Miller: "I tried to kill myself" - Prison Break star reveals deep struggle with sexuality

Wentworth Miller told an audience in Seattle as a teenager he "wanted out" as he struggled to accept his sexuality

Wentworth Miller said he was "troubled" by recent Russian anti-gay laws

WENN

Prison Break star Wentworth Miller tried to commit suicide as a teenager as he struggled with his sexuality.
The star said he "wanted out" as a teenager in an emotional speech at a Human Rights Campaign Dinner in Seattle, revealing he first attempted suicide at just 15.

"The first time i tried to kill myself I was 15", he said, "I waited until my family were away for the weekend and I was alone in the house and Ii swallowed a bottle of pills."
The 41-year-old actor, who came out publically last month after turning down an invite to a Russian Film Festival, added he didn't remember what had happened but "Come Monday morning Ii was on the bus to school pretending everything was fine."

Adding his attempt wasn't a cry for help, because he didn't "believe there was help to cry for."
He described the "torture" of working in Hollywood as a closeted actor.

Wentworth Miller

WENN

 The actor came out in a bid to tackle homophobia in Russia, saying he was "deeply troubled by the current attitude" by the government.
He wrote to organisers of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival saying: "As a gay man I must decline."

"I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government," Wentworth added in his letter.
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"The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly," he said.
Wentworth's, who played Michael Scofield in Prison Break (scroll down for a reminder), letter was made public by campaigning group GLAAD.

He is the latest high profile celebrity to hit out at Russian anti-gay laws, joining Stephen Fry and Lady Gaga in protest. The controversy in Russia was sparked after politicians in its lower house of parliament, the Duma, passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18.
Comedian Stephen called for Russia to be banned from hosting next year’s Winter Olympics – and compared Vladimir Putin to Hitler.
He said the authorities in Russia regularly turn a blind eye to gay people being abused, raped and murdered.
He added that President Putin’s country is victimising homosexuals in the same way that Jews were in Hitler’s Germany.

Lady Gaga

Flynet

 Stephen begged sports chiefs and political leaders to cancel the Games in the Russian city of Sochi so that Putin is not rewarded for his actions such as approving “barbaric” anti-gay laws.
In an open letter to David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee today, Stephen said: “I am gay. I am a Jew.

"My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler’s anti-Semitism.
“Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian ‘correctively’ raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one weep anew at seeing history repeat itself.

  Lady Gaga        ✔ @ladygaga

The Russian government is criminal. Oppression will be met with revolution. Russian LGBTs you are not alone. We will fight for your freedom.

Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter the Russian government was "criminal"
She added: "Sending bravery to LGBTs in Russia.
"The rise in government abuse is archaic. Hosing teenagers with pepper spray? Beatings? Mother Russia?