“He Was A Saint”: How Robin Williams Protected Nathan Lane From Being Outed By Oprah

“I don’t think Oprah was trying to out me, but I said to Robin beforehand: ‘I’m not prepared. I’m so scared of going out there and talking to Oprah. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television, I’m not ready,'” Nathan explained on Sunday Sitdown. “And [Robin] said: ‘Oh, it’s alright, don’t worry about it, we don’t have to talk about it, we won’t talk about it.'”

He then recalled how Robin “sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah and goes off on a tangent and protects [him] because he was a saint.” 

“I just wasn’t ready to do that, to make this whole thing… the public side of it, the celebrity side,” Nathan added of publicly coming out. “‘Oh, now you’re a public figure, and you have to make some sort of public statement about it.’ I was terrified. I wasn’t ready to do that.”