Nathan Lane Reveals How ‘Saint’ Robin Williams Protected Him During ‘Oprah’ Interview In 1996

Nathan Lane hasn’t forgotten how his The Birdcage co-star Robin Williams helped protect him during an interview almost 30 years ago.

The 67-year-old Only Murders in the Building star opened up about appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote the movie, in which they played a gay couple, back in 1996.

This was before Nathan had come out, and he was concerned that Oprah Winfrey would ask him about his sexuality during the interview. Thankfully, Robin saved the day.

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“I was not prepared at all for that,” Nathan said about shifting the focus to his own sexuality while doing promo. Instead, he wanted to focus on the role being his first “big part in a movie.”

He added that, “I didn’t want to make it about my sexuality.”

“I don’t think Oprah was trying to out me, but I said to Robin beforehand, ‘I’m not prepared. I’m so scared of going out there and talking to Oprah. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television. I’m not ready,’” he recalled, according to Variety. “He said, ‘Oh, it’s alright, don’t worry about – we don’t have to talk about it. We won’t talk about it.’”

When the topic came up, Robin helped shift the focus, with Nathan saying he “sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah, goes off on a tangent and protects me because he was a saint.”

Another former co-star opened up about how the late comedian helped them while they were working together.