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Damian
EXTRAtainmentUpdate!
Damian Marshall to Break His Silence
After weeks of silence following his outburst at Cannes, and with his career hanging in the balance, Damian Marshall will make his first public appearance tonight onThe After Hours Show. In the interview with host Topher Brown, Marshall is expected to discuss his future with theShadow Leaguefranchise, his relationship with director Anderson Lind, and the sex tape that has now been viewed almost 50 million times since it was first posted two days ago. Marshall will have to do some fancy footwork, as it’s rumoredShadow Leagueexecutive producer and New Film Cinema studio head Cedric Oberman is more than a little unhappy with his star. With the nextShadow Leaguefilm not set to begin filming until the fall, a course change for the franchise is still a possibility.
* * *
So it turnsout executing my master plan is not the overnight thing I was hoping for. Roberta makes it look so easy, but by the time I’m scheduled to record my interview, I still have a lot of balls in the air.
“Damian, what were you thinking?” Topher Brown leans against the edge of his desk while his audience laughs at his antics delightedly. I give them all my best aw-shucks-you-caught-mesmile because it’s what’s expected. Secretly though, when before I tolerated this as part of the business—a necessary evil—now I hate them all for thinking they get to be part of this story.
But I have to get through this because I owe it to Jack to make amends publicly. If what we did in private was tossed out for the world to see, then my apology needs to be too.
“It was a lapse in judgement,” I say, dropping my chin enough to look repentant.
“I’ll say.” Topher mugs for the camera. We met once, last year at an Oscars after-party. He was wasted and dumped his drink down the front of my shirt, though somehow the cameras missed it. But either he was too drunk to remember it or his people have decided it’s better for appearances if we all pretend the incident never took place.
“I will say, and it’s all I’ll say”—it’s not actually all I’m going to say, but Topher and the audience have to feel like they’ve won something here—“that what happened was between two consenting adults, and we had no idea anyone was filming.”
“You looked like you were doing more than consenting.” The crowd roars its approval, but since there wasn’t a question in there, I give them a what-can-you-do?shrug and let them laugh at my expense.
“So, Damian.” The host leans in for the kill. Even though I know the question is inevitable, my heart races. “I think what all these nice people and all those watching at home want to know is, are you gay?”
My mouth is dry. Technically, this show doesn’t go to air for another six hours, but every single person in the audience has a phone, and the moment the words are out of my mouth, I have to assume the confirmation will be beamed around the world in seconds.
This is exactly what I didn’t want. When Anderson grabbed me at Cannes and Roberta said I could either go to Alaska or tell the world the truth, this is exactly what I was hoping to avoid, and now here I am, mostly willingly. I didn’t owe Anderson anything, but I owe Jack everything.
“Yes,” I say, already envisioning the headlines. “I’m gay.”
The ripple of shocked gasps, even though everyone here knows what I look like with my cock in someone’s mouth, is audible through the whole studio.
Topher’s expression softens sympathetically. “And is this something you’ve only realized about yourself recently?”
I don’t have to answer this. All I had to admit was I’m attracted to men. From here, I can be as coy as I choose.
But I don’t want them thinking what happened with Jack was some weird experimentation.
“No,” I say. “No. I’ve known I was gay since I was fourteen. But it was something I was taught to hate. That I should be ashamed of who I am. Even after I told the people who care about me, it’s taken me a long time to be comfortable with it But I didn’t feel it was something I needed to talk about publicly before, with people who...” I trail off. I nearly say people who think they’re owed answers for their entertainment. But I’m trying to win support, not alienate the audience. “With people who only know me through my movies.”
“Speaking of movies”—Topher leans in with a grin, and where my heart was doing a tap dance routine before, now it ratchets up to a whole new tempo—“what about the other man in the video? Is he someone we’ll be seeing more of in the future?”
This is a fine line. If I say too much, I violate Jack’s trust again. If I hold too much back, their interest will be piqued, and while Jack has so far remained anonymous, that can change on a dime if anyone thinks there’s money to be made in finding out who he is.
“No,” I say. “As I’m sure you can imagine, he’s not too happy with me.” The audience gives me a sympathetic chuckle, which I appreciate. “I suspect he’s had more than enough of his brush with fame.”
“There’s some speculation out there that what happened in Alaska is related to what happened with Anderson Lind at the Cannes Film Festival last month. Are you able to comment on that?”
Step two. Here we go. They’re all expecting me to say I won’t talk about Anderson. Roberta didn’t put it on the list of approved questions because I asked her to leave it off to see what they’d do.
“Anderson and I had a relationship while we were filmingShadow League 4. It ended, but I didn’t handle things as well as I should have.”
Topher is bug-eyed. He stammers, “And have you spoken to him since then?”
“I haven’t.”
