‘Dreamgirls’ star Joe Aaron Reid on finding love and coming out to his religious parents
By Will Stroude
Actor and singer Joe Aaron Reid is living what many would consider ‘the dream’ – loving husband, two kids, and performing eight times a week as Curtis in the West End production of Dreamgirls.
But having it all takes fighting, particularly when, like Joe, you grow up in a very religious family. And while the 33-year-old thought that coming out – aged 19, on Mothers’ day of all days – would mark the end of having to keep his love life separate from his parents, he found out that another battle needed to be fought when he met the man he went on to marry.
“I got a long Bible lecture, and then it kinda turned into a lot of not talking about it, and for a long time that was fine for me. I’d gotten it off my chest, they knew,” he tells us in Attitude’s January issue, which is available to download and in shops now.
“It wasn’t until probably like a decade later and much therapy that I saw that I was continuing to grow and they were not. I think that all came into perspective when I realised I was in a very serious relationship, and it just didn’t work for me that my now husband was never spoken about.”
So, Joe offered them an ultimatum: “If he’s not welcome, then I’m not welcome,” he told them. Luckily it worked, and they “accepted that it will have an affect on them” if they continued to ignore such a huge part of Joe’s life.
Read our full interview with Dreamgirls star Joe Aaron Reid in Attitude’s January issue, which is available to download and in shops now. Order internationally from newsstand.co.uk/attitude.
Dreamgirls is at the Savoy theatre, London, booking until 6 May. To book click here. For more of the best deals on tickets and shows, visit tickets.attitude.co.uk.
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