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Jesse Tyler Ferguson came out when dad found stolen gay porn

"I always considered that my coming out," the actor said. "It was so humiliating."

By Annie Martin
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (R) and husband Justin Mikita. (UPI/Jim Ruymen)
1 of 5 | Jesse Tyler Ferguson (R) and husband Justin Mikita. (UPI/Jim Ruymen) | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Jesse Tyler Ferguson came out to his father in an unexpected and "humiliating" way.

The 38-year-old Modern Family star recalled the story in an interview with Aisha Tyler on Girl on Guy. Ferguson said he essentially came out at age 14 after his dad discovered he had been shoplifting gay porn.

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"I always considered that my coming out," he shared. "It was so humiliating. I had been stealing porn for a while. I had quite a little collection. And I would bring it into the house, and then I'd get nervous, so I'd hide it under the mattress, or I'd hide it behind a shed in the backyard. And then it would get rained on, and I'd have to go get the barbecue tongs to [get it out]."

Ferguson was eventually caught after he attempted to steal material with an anti-theft device.

"I had to go back and the woman asked me if I had anything in my backpack," the actor related. "They brought my dad in, and they showed him the nature of the material I was stealing, and it was really, really humiliating. So I always consider that my coming out process."

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"[He] was like, 'Okay, are you gay?' And I was, like, 14. I didn't really know. I didn't know what I was going through," he continued. "But then in my later teen years I did come out to him, and it was like he needed to be told three times ... [When I was 21] he asked me if I had a girlfriend at the time, and I was like, 'Dad! You know I'm gay, right?'"

Ferguson married lawyer Justin Mikita in July 2013. The couple have been together since 2010, and own a dog named Leaf Coneybear after Broadway musical The 24th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

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