“Obsession” star Michael Johnston opened up about coming out as gay in his younger years, reflecting that playing a queer role on “Teen Wolf” lined up with his own journey to self-discovery — and that that was “terrifying.”
“Back then, it was terrifying because I sort of came out to myself and then others around me during that time,” Johnston told Cosmopolitan in an video interview published Thursday. “Like, I was just in complete and utter denial — you know, I grew up in the south. So it was really scary.”
Johnston, who grew up in North Carolina, had a breakout role in 2015 as Corey Bryant, a gay high school on “Teen Wolf” with special invisibility powers. Appearing in Season 5 and 6 of the MTV series, his character was in a relationship with Mason Hewitt (Khylin Rhambo). The series notably portrayed the same-sex couple in a way where that wasn’t the tension driving the supernatural drama. It was just a fact about the characters.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna come out to L.A., and then all of a sudden I have [‘Teen Wolf’],” Johnston said, recalling his casting as the gay teen. He remembered reassuring his family back in the North Carolina at the time that the gayness on screen was “not real.”
“I’m like, ‘No, no way! I would never!’” Johnston said. “And then I had that crazy aunt who’s like, ‘It’s gonna poison you.’ And now she’s like, ‘Aha! See!’ I’m just like, oh my god.”
But looking back at his time on the series, Johnston said that it was particularly gratifying to hear from LGBTQ+ fans of Corey and Mason.
“At the time, playing that role in ‘Teen Wolf,’ I had no idea how many wonderful messages I would get from people saying, ‘Just being you and just being brave and just being yourself meant so much to me.’ And that was amazing,” Johnston shared. He added that starring in “Obsession” as Bear, a hapless straight male who disastrously makes a wish for his crush to fall in love with him, was also gratifying.
“Playing Bear, playing a straight role, I don’t know, for me, my philosophy is the character’s sexuality is just another part of who they are,” he said. “But that being said, I’ve always said I’m really looking forward to an intentional queer role.”
In the meantime, what’s something he learned from the horrific and bloody mishaps of Bear and “Obsession”?
“Just that I’m glad I’m not heterosexual.”
Watch Johnston’s full Cosmopolitan interview in the video below:
