Actor Tyler Lepley is directly dismissing rumors he is gay by also addressing claims that have been thrown around concerning his co-worker and director, Tyler Perry.
Lepley recently appeared on Angela Yee’s podcast “Lip Service,” during which Yee and her co-hosts mentioned hearing speculation about his sexuality on Instagram, and the “P-Valley” star responded around the 50:00 minute mark.
“I remember when I first started out, I was seeing [rumors of being gay] here and there. For whatever reason, people were associating it with my first show. I came out on a Tyler Perry show and for whatever reason, he gets a rap like that, and I know Tyler [Perry] personally and he’s not gay. I was seen around him and all of a sudden ‘he’s rubbing off on me’ and people felt like I was gay or something like that.”
While he recalled an instance with one or two of his co-stars that may have set people talking, Lepley didn’t appear overly concerned about public opinion concerning his sexuality, or anything else.
“I had done something while I was on the set of ‘P-Valley.’ Maybe I was with Clifford [Nicco Anaan] or I think I was taking a picture with Alphonse [Nicholson] who plays Little Murda, and people started off with the gay thing again. I think if you have a space that people can’t figure out, they can just create a judgment.”
In fact, Lepley revealed that he and his longtime girlfriend currently have a son together, though, when pressed, was not willing to give up his partner’s identity. He stressed that having a public persona makes it all the more important to keep aspects of his life private.
“I’ve found that working in a public space, you know what I do for a living… and if you look at the whole spectrum you know like 80 90 percent of your life is lived out where people are watching you,” Lepley said. “I’ve understood for a long time and I’ve experienced this, that having a space that’s private is very beneficial and really helps to be able to unplug. You know for me especially as a black man, to go into the world, the last thing that i want from being at war with the world every single day is to come home for round two.”
He continued, “I’ve had girlfriends in the past that didn’t understand that and they wanted everything to be public. They don’t understand why we can’t publicize everything and you won’t see my kid on my IG (Instagram) the same way you won’t see like my parents on my IG.”
“I’ve chosen to keep my private life private and everything else, like we can talk, and we can chat — and I talk to people on my IG — and it’s like we can do all that over here in this space. I feel that and I respect it. And that’s what makes people come up with all their own stories that they create.”
