Neil Patrick Harris spoke out about relationship with Ben Stiller's wife and claimed dating her made him realise he was gay
As well as being a decorated actress, doting mother and supportive spouse to Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor is also responsible for Neil Patrick Harris' gay awakening.
According to the How I Met Your Mother star, his short-lived romance with Taylor led him to a major realisation about his sexuality.
The 51-year-old, from Albuquerque, has been happily married to David Burtka since September 2014, who he shares twins Gideon and Harper, 14, with.
The actor gushed about his family in an Instagram post late last year, explaining the kids fill him and his husband 'with life'.
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But a lot of people are unaware that Taylor, 53, played a significant part in Patrick Harris' happiness, as their relationship nearly 30 years ago made him realise he was gay.
The pair got together in 1997 while they were both the coolest kids on the showbiz block, as Patrick Harris had made a name for himself in Doogie Howser, M.D, while Taylor had just scored her breakout role in The Brady Bunch Movie.
However, these famous faces were only an item for a fleeting moment in time, as they called it quits the following year.
It was an amicable end with no bad blood on either side, but Patrick Harris later confessed that if anyone, he should bare the brunt of the blame for their breakup.
During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show in 2008, the American Horror Story star discussed how while dating Taylor, it dawned on him that he was gay.
By this point in time, he had already come out as a 'very content gay man' two years earlier, as well as going public with his relationship with Burtka, who he'd been with since 2004.
Reflecting on his time with Taylor, Patrick Harris said she was the 'coolest, nicest chick ever'.
"She's an absolute catch," he said. "And I thought, 'If I'm not going to feel the super sparks with her...it probably means I'm gay'."
But it turns out the demise of their puppy love worked out for the best on all sides, as a year after splitting from Patrick Harris, Taylor met her future husband, Ben Stiller.
She met Stiller, 59, while they were both filming sci-fi TV comedy Heat Vision and Jack. The comedic couple also appeared alongside each other in films Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Tropic Thunder, and Zoolander 2 as well as in the TV series Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
They share children Ella, 21, and Quinlin, 18, together.
Taylor and Stiller separated in 2017 after 17 years of marriage, but later reconciled after the actor moved back into the family home during the pandemic.
In his 2014 memoir Choose Your Own Autobiography, Patrick Harris also claimed that Burt Reynolds also helped him realise he was gay.
He wrote about an experience he had on set with the actor as a teenager when they were both starring in the detective drama B.L. Stryker.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Patrick Harris said: "As a joke at the end of one take, Burt leans over and kisses you square on the mouth.
"The crew thinks this is very funny, but it makes you uncomfortable. Uncomfortable and, it will ultimately turn out, gay. Burt Reynolds' kiss makes you gay."
Whether it was Taylor or Reynolds who led him to it, at least he got there in the end.
Topics: Celebrity, LGBTQ, Sex and Relationships
Olivia Burke