Thom Bierdz’s Character Comes Out on The Young & The Restless
July 7, 2009 by Jonathan Rosales, GLAAD's Entertainment Media Manager
After a shocking return to The Young and The Restless as Phillip Chancellor III in May, openly gay actor Thom Bierdz’s character will reveal that he is gay.
Bierdz played Phillip for three years before leaving Y&R twenty years ago to pursue a film career. Phillip was written off the show after he died in a drunk driving accident, returning only for a dream sequence in 2004.
Since then Bierdz has found success as a painter and has publicly discussed his life as a gay man having to hide his sexual orientation for the sake of his acting career. In those interviews, Bierdz had expressed an interest in returning to Y&R on the condition that his real life sexual orientation be incorporated into Phillip’s life as well.
In a closely guarded surprise May return, it was revealed that Phillip Chancellor III is alive and well…but how? In an episode slated to air today or tomorrow on CBS (depending on Michael Jackson memorial coverage), Phillip will tell his wife, Nina, that he faked his death because of his difficulty in accepting his own sexual orientation. Twenty years later, Phillip and Thom both return to Genoa City proud, out gay men.
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