Arrow star Colton Haynes opened up about almost losing his Teen Wolf role in his new memoir.
When it came to teenage heartthrobs of the 2010s, one of the most prevalent faces of the bunch was Haynes.
Having splashed onto the entertainment scene with roles in MTV’s Teen Wolf and The CW’s Arrow, Haynes quickly made a name for himself in the TV industry.
Alongside his fruitful acting career, Haynes made headlines when he came out as gay in a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Since that day, the American Horror Story star has opened up about his life as an openly gay actor and the challenges he faced.
In his brand new memoir titled Miss Memory Lane, Haynes revealed that he almost didn’t land his role in Teen Wolf because of a magazine shoot.
A few years before his acting career kicked off, the Scream Queens star wrote that he was openly gay. However, due to the continued stigma toward queer actors, Haynes went back into the closet to get more roles.
“It didn’t matter who was on my team, the message I got was always the same: You will not work if you are yourself,” he revealed.
Haynes reluctantly followed that mindset in his personal life due to his manager encouraging him to play straight “on and off set”.
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He went on to recall a moment in which his manager said that the head of MTV almost didn’t hire him because of his openly gay past.
“Look what almost happened, Colton. The head of MTV almost didn’t hire you because of that XY photo shoot we’ve been working our asses off to extinguish. Thank God Jeff [Davies] fought for you to get that role,” Haynes recalled in his book.
The shoot in question – which was shot during his modelling days – featured an array of shots of him kissing and embracing another male model.
The Dollface star then added that he was “grateful” and “eager to not f**k up the opportunity” that the Teen Wolf showrunner gave him.
Even though he initially kept the aforementioned photoshoot hidden, Haynes has since come out to reclaim the set of photos on Instagram.
“Being gay is worth celebrating. I wish I’d figured that out sooner, but I’m so glad I know it now. To everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community, I hope you celebrate yourselves this month & always, exactly as you are,” he wrote in 2021 alongside a snapshot from the shoot.
Colton Haynes’ book Miss Memory Lane is now available.
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