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Over the course of his career, Alan Cumming has been many things.
However, Cumming believes his multifaceted career was born out of necessity.
So I’ve always just done what I wanted."
This is the stunning transformation of “The Traitors” host Alan Cumming.
The future worldwide superstar shared that he was abused by his father when he was younger.
“It wasn’t just physical.
You know, he was violent.
The experience left him with nightmares for the rest of his life.
“We all lived in terror,” Cumming recalled.
“I mean, if you live in terror, it’s a sort of paralyzing thing …
There was nothing any of us could have done.”
It would come to define his adolescence, and he would deal with it for years.
He also wrote about television for The Dundee Courier.
In an essay forThe Big Issue, Cumming recalled, “I just totally made them up.”
What if it’s a little old lady who lives alone with her cat.
I can’t just say ‘Mercury is in retrograde and love is on its way.’
I would never say that.
So I would say, ‘Uranus is approaching, so best not to clean those cupboards yet.'”
He threw himself into acting, finding quickly that he had a talent for performance.
Before long, his career began to take off.
Victor & Barry has been a metaphor for both of us for finding our own authenticity."
They would perform the characters regularly, all around the world, throughout the 1980s.
Cumming later revealed that he was looking to prove something to his parents.
“That’s not a great thing to do.
I wouldn’t recommend that,” he toldPeople.
“I was 21 when I got married the first time.
I knew I was bisexual when I was married the first time, as did my wife.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
Cumming played Boris Grishenko, a villain memorable for his wicked sense of humor and his circular spectacles.
So, don’t expect me to explain it now," Cumming later wrote onhis website.
“But I do remember Boris’ catchphrase I am invincible!
because strangers still come up and say it to me all the time.”
A big action movie like “GoldenEye” presented challenges he wasn’t used to.
It stuck to his scalp, and he had to be rescued by a fireman who hosed him down.
“Everyone would say, ‘Your life’s gonna change.
You have no idea what’s gonna happen to you.’
And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’
It’s kind of an alarming thing to hear!”
he reminisced during a 2019 interview withPeopleTV.
Cumming attracted a lot of attention for the part.
“There were stalkers,” he toldTimeOut.
“People would follow me home.
Ultimately, he was a critical sensation.
“Yes, I am complaining.”
Queer people understand what that’s all about.”
He liked that, writing, “Here I was as full-blown sex symbol.
Geeky, arty, skinny, European, mischievous, slightly dangerous sex symbol, but sex symbol nonetheless …
I did feel sexy, and I was having a lot of sex.”
By the latter part of the 2000s, however, Cumming was ready to settle down.
That came in the form of Grant Shaffer, an artist.
“We started our relationship just being very honest with each other.”
“I think we have a long way to go even though great strides have been made.”
So I put him in that same gallery."
“The show has changed both my perception and the world’s perception of me as an actor.
Because now I can play men in suits,” he joked toThe Guardian.
“I’ve become a grown-up.”
In 2018, Cumming made his mark on the city in a new way.
That year, he opened Club Cumming, an East Village nightclub and performing arts space.
“Everyone is welcome and anything could happen.
I’ve created this space where Iwant to go.
And I think that’s a great thing.”
“What kind of country are we in where we take rights away from people?”
“I definitely feel it is a safe space.
I worry for some of the people who work for us and who come.”
Instead, he suddenly found himself talking about his father more than ever.
“I want to say, no, you still have it.”
Cumming doesn’t just write down stories from his life, he also speaks them aloud onstage.
He’s toured several one-man shows, including one called “Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age.”
The “Schmigadoon!”
The outfits he wears are characters all on their own.
They’re a bit androgynous, often tartan, flowing, and fabulous.
“People are tuning in to see the people they know from these other shows,” he toldWWD.
On “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Cumming shared that they ran into each other backstage.
“I went up to him and I just went, ‘I am so sorry.’
And he went, ‘Condragulations.'”
