How Neil Came Out, Made It Big

Neil Patrick Harris has truly exploded this year. He's slotted to host and produce the Emmys, garnered rave reviews on Broadway, plays a womanizer on TV—and he does it all while openly gay, making his success story a sort of Hollywood first. He discusses painful memories of child stardom spent in the closet, aspirations for his future—he’d “love to be Ed Sullivan” someday—and his relationship with New York.

Harris still makes comments like, “They have great tits,” in reference to his How I Met Your Mother co-stars, but it’s partner of five years David Burtka he’s truly committed to. They’re not having a child yet, but “we’d make very good parents,” Harris says. He can practice for that in an upcoming role—next year, he’ll play a straight, married father in comedy The Best and the Brightest.   (More Neil Patrick Harris stories.)