Celia Laskey Dishes on Closeted Hollywood Stars
A chat about her book, 'Cover Story'
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Today, I’m bringing you an interview with Celia Laskey, the author of Cover Story. Set in 2005, the book follows Ali, a Hollywood publicist who helps celebrities stay in the closet. When Ali meets her new gay client, rising star Cara Bisset, she begins questioning the ethics of her job as well as her capacity for romance.
I asked Celia about her interest in closeted celebrities and the importance of famous people coming out. We also discussed her inspiration for Cover Story, and of course, the veracity of Gaylor theory. I hope you enjoy our chat, and let me know if there are other authors you think I should interview.
What was your first kernel of inspiration for Cover Story?
The very first kernel was about a decade ago, when my Very Fabulous Gay Friend, who’s married to a man who, at the time, was the editor of a popular fashion magazine, let me in on a big secret. He and his husband were recently at a Hollywood after-party and saw an older, A-list actor with two Academy Awards kiss another guy. This actor had always been publicly partnered with women. They were puzzled, and asked an industry insider, “Who is that with Actor X?” The insider casually replied, “Oh, that’s his partner. They’ve been together forever.” It seemed that everyone in Hollywood knew this actor was gay, but somehow, it never got out to the larger public. Of course, I had thought about the fact that some celebrities were closeted in theory, but I had never really thought about it in practice—the fact that one of my best friends had seen this with his own eyeballs meant it was true, not just some internet rumor. And that really broke my brain; I was never the same again. I've been obsessed with closeted celebrities ever since.
Just in case I need to say this: I don’t think anyone should ever be outed. I also don’t believe anyone is required to come out. I do think it’s important, though, that the general public understands closeting is still a reality for many celebrities (and many people in general) because it reveals that LGBTQ+ acceptance is not nearly as far along as they’d like to believe. Sadly, homophobia has not yet been eradicated. And to anyone who says we shouldn’t discuss closeted celebrities or speculate about sexuality, that’s just another version of “don’t say gay” or “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Because if you say it’s harmful or disrespectful to speculate about someone being queer, what you’re saying is it’s harmful or not respectable to be queer. Thus, you just want to keep assuming everyone is straight. Speculating about sexuality actively challenges heteronormativity, which we must continue to do if we ever want to live in a truly egalitarian, inclusive world.
I would say the second kernel of inspiration for Cover Story was reading Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. It was the first queer romcom I had ever read, and I thought I'd like to give that genre a try. I knew I wanted to write about a closeted celebrity, and when I thought, "Oh my god, what if a closeted celebrity's publicist fell for them?" I knew I was onto something.
How did you decide that a celebrity/PR scenario would make a good love story?
I really liked the idea of falling for the absolute last person you should fall for, i.e. the celebrity you're supposed to be keeping in the closet. And if part of your job is keeping celebrities in the closet, maybe being in a secret relationship with one of them would open your eyes to how terrible that feels on a daily basis—maybe it would make you really grapple with the hypocrisy of being an out lesbian who's counseling her gay clients to stay closeted, and maybe it would make you unwilling to do that anymore.
I believe I already know the answer to this question, but could you share what went into the decision to set the book in 2005?
When I originally wrote Cover Story, it was set in present day. But when my agent and I tried to sell it, the feedback was: no one is closeted anymore! That’s a thing of the past! It made me want to explode into a ball of flames, because I don’t understand how people can think no one is closeted anymore if there are only maybe ten A-list actors who are openly LGBTQ+. Right now, make a list in your head and see if you can name more than ten. Neil Patrick Harris, Elliot Page, Kristen Stewart, Jodie Foster, Angelina Jolie… That’s usually where the list ends. And people must understand that ten people out of all the A-list actors is not statistically representative of the population at large. A Gallup poll shows that the average American believes one in four people are gay or lesbian, which I’d say is roughly accurate. But if one in four A-list actors and actresses were queer, there’d be a lot more than ten of them.
Regardless, I couldn’t fight against public perception, so to sell Cover Story, I had to set it in 2005, when it was “believable” that public figures were still closeted. But I want readers to know that it’s still very much a reality today. It’s still difficult to come out. It still takes a lot of courage. And that shouldn’t be minimized.
Where do you think this perception that everything is better for LGBTQ folks and no one needs to be closeted anymore comes from?
It's because gay marriage passed, lol. Which is why it was so problematic that that was *the* LGBTQ talking point for so long, but don't get me started on that. They think because gay marriage passed, we won the battle and nothing is wrong anymore. Also cishet people just want us to stop raining on their privilege parade. It's the same reason men don't want to admit sexism still exists, white people don't want to admit racism still exists, etc. If everything is a-ok, privileged people don't need to think about changing their behavior or feeling guilty.
Why do you think so many celebrities are still closeted?
I think so many celebrities are still closeted because homophobia is still really strong! I recently had a Gaylor tweet go a lil viral, and the straight Swifties came at me SO HARD - telling me to kill myself, that they'll come give me a lobotomy, etc. Then they went on Goodreads and one-star-bombed Cover Story. I eventually had to delete the tweet and sign up for DeleteMe because it was getting really scary. So when people are like, "Why wouldn't Taylor Swift just come out??" that's exactly why. I also think so many celebrities are still closeted because so many of them are total heartthrobs for the opposite sex, which I've always thought is really funny. Like, straight women are so attracted to gay men when they don't know they're gay because gay men are attractive, fit, well-groomed, emotionally intelligent, and interesting!
If more A-listers were out today, what do you think the impact of that would be?
I think the impact would be HUGE. Like, if they all mass came out at the same time, people would be SHOCKED how many there are. There would be no way for the public to boycott all the content with queer people involved, because it would be almost all the content. A survey by the Pew Research Center says, “When those who say they have shifted to supporting same-sex marriage are asked why their views changed, people offer a range of answers. Roughly a third (32%) say it is because they know someone—a friend, family member or other acquaintance—who is homosexual.” This is about visibility, and celebrities are not unlike friends or acquaintances. We follow their successes, their failures, and their love lives. We watch interviews with them and say “Omg! She loves McDonald’s Egg McMuffins, too!” We feel like we know them, and nothing changes people like knowing someone who's LGBTQ.
In addition to Ali and Cara's "forbidden romance" and the central issue of coming out, you also give a lot of attention to mental health, trauma, and grief. Why was it important to you to include these more sobering topics within a romance novel?
Because at some point in their life, most people will deal with mental health, trauma, and grief! I don't think romcoms need to be all fluff—I think combining these more "serious" topics with humor and romance is actually the best combination because the levity and light balances out the darkness.
And most importantly: do you have an opinion on the Gaylor theory?
Oh my god thank you for asking this, this is my absolute favorite topic on earth. YES, I do have an opinion, and my opinion is that Taylor Swift is very gay. I may have read and bookmarked various 100-page google doc presentations about her sexuality, her various lovers including Diana Agron and Karlie Kloss and Zoe Kravitz, and her failed plan to come out with the Lover album.
If you want the quickest, most non-exhaustive list of why I’m a Gaylor, here we go:
1) All of her lyrics. Just like, read them. Really read them. But specifically “I don’t want you like a best friend,” “one of these things is not like the others, like a rainbow with all of the colors” “we’re a crooked love in a straight line down,” “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you,” "They don’t know about the night in the hotel/ They weren’t ridin’ in the car when we both fell/ Didn’t read the note on the Polaroid picture/ They don’t know how much I miss you.” Hellooo, "you" was clearly supposed to be "her" since that rhymes with "picture." I feel like anyone with the slightest bit of reading comprehension should be able to see the gayness in Taylor's lyrics.
2) There’s literally a video of Taylor and Karlie kissing at a 1975 concert.
3) Any of the pictures of Taylor and Karlie together, but specifically from their California coast road trip. Like, those are clearly two women in love with each other, not gal pals.
4) She released the song ME! on lesbian visibility day and you know Taylor is very intentional about every single thing.
5) The ME! video is the most sapphic thing I’ve ever seen, full of rainbows and unicorns and Taylor in a suit and cats. In her documentary Miss Americana, Taylor is talking about the ME! music video including "everything that makes me me" and lists gay pride as one of those things. Like, that's a direct quote!!
6) She randomly switches lyrics from he/him pronouns to she/her pronouns during concerts.
7) Her official social media accounts “like” gaylor content.
8) If you want a starter list of all the queer men in Hollywood, google anyone Taylor has publicly dated. No one who was actually with Joe Alwyn would have written the song “London Boy.” It’s like a publicist wrote it using ChatGPT to confirm their relationship. And I could keep going, but I’ll stop here before this takes over your whole Substack...
You can find more from Celia here and buy a copy of Cover Story here.
