“Fuller House” star Juan Pablo Di Pace has come out as gay.
Di Pace, who hails from Argentina and was raised Catholic, opened up about his sexuality during a Ted Talk at a TedX event. The talk, titled “The Story of Your Life,” was recorded in March and recently uploaded to YouTube.
The 39-year-old actor, who competed on season 27 of “Dancing with the Stars,” explained his struggles with his sexuality growing up. He says other kids would bully him so he tried his best to fit in with them. Di Pace describes one time as an early teenager when he attempted to draw and sell flip books with heterosexual porn in order to be accepted.
“Acceptance was my fuel, and when that is the case, like an addict, you do whatever it takes to get a fix,” Di Pace says. “I figured, if I changed my faggot self, I could be in.”
Later on in life, he got into acting and was cast as Jesus Christ in the miniseries “A.D. The Bible Continues.” The casting sent him further into crisis about his sexuality.
“So there I am, hanging on the cross in Morocco, and I look up at the sky, and I think, ‘You could still strike me down with lightning. Are you sure you want me to play your son? Me?’,” Di Pace recounts. “I waited. Nothing happened. I was not struck by lightning. Instead, what I felt was an overwhelming feeling of love and acceptance and freedom that I could never even put into words. A message from God? Maybe. Words are like universes and we are musicians who can create universes with them.”
Di Pace portrays Fernando, the ex-husband and love interest of Kimmy Gibbler, on Netflix’s “Fuller House.” He will also play Carlos Gardel in the biopic “Gardel,” a film about the Argentine tango singer.
