Not that you'd have any reason to know either way - since his sexuality rarely, if ever, figures into his performances - but yes, Brown is gay. "I don't think it's a story at all. I would never dream of ringing up the tabloids and saying 'this is my private life'," the man himself said. For a man whose livelihood relies so heavily on secrecy, mystery and controlling public perceptions of himself, not much has been divulged about the personal life of Derren Brown. Which is really quite remarkable, given the level of his fame and the levels of muck raking the British tabloid press are willing to stoop to, and it wasn't until 2007 that he officially "came out" during an interview with the Independent. It was a few years still until he talked in depth about his sexuality, during a Q&A with the Radio Times in 2011. "I wasn't denying it in myself but I had built up quite an austere, eccentric persona - I used to wear a cape, have long hair, that sort of thing. Thats an easy thing to do if youre not relaxed about the whole sex thing," he admitted. Since then, however, he's settled down and grown more outwardly comfortable with it, having been in a happy and committed relationship with his partner for several years. "I spent a lot of time thinking about me and working on what I wanted to be before I came into a relationship. In some ways, its bad because you come into relationship quite late without a lot of experience and you have a lot to learn. But that can also be exciting. Certainly, its lovely to have somebody love you and its lovely to love someone else," he told the Times. Aw.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
