'Gilmore Girls' star talks about the surprising revelation of his character's sexuality
Among the revelations promised in Netflix's "Gilmore Girls" revival, the one about Michel's sexuality was pretty unexpected - even for the actor who plays the character.
"I found out about it when I read the script," Yanic Truesdale told Business Insider recently.
Truesdale said that he had never spoken to "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman-Palladino about his character being gay - even just to discuss the character's backstory, which can be helpful for an actor.
For years, fans speculated on the uptight, easily annoyed Frenchman's sexuality. The character's romantic life was never shown, nor discussed during the original series. But during the first part of Netflix's "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," we finally learned that he's not only gay, but married to a man.
"People have been speculating since the beginning of the show if he was gay or not," Truesdale said of Michel. "Some fans thought I had a secret crush on Lorelai. I mean, everyone has their own take on him."
In the revival, Michel's personal life is an important piece of information. He and his husband, whom we don't actually meet, were looking to adopt a child and Michel had to wonder about his ability to provide for the new member of the family, as well as whether there was anywhere to move up at Lorelai's (Lauren Graham) Stars Hollow hotel, the Dragonfly Inn.
"I think it was more satisfying for me, this time around, because we touched on some of his personal aspects of life," Truesdale said. "You know, the fact that he's married, the children issue, the crossroads with his work, and having to make big decisions in his life made me connect with him at a deeper level. And that was great. I've always wanted to have more personal stuff for him, because it's satisfying to go there for an actor. So I'm happy about it."
Even so, Truesdale said that knowing the character is gay didn't affect how he portrayed Michel.
"To me, it didn't change anything either way because Michel is a character that's never been defined by his sexuality," he told us. "Mostly, he's defined by his irritants or being French and everything that entails. This is the foundation that I've worked with, so either way, for me whatever his love life was didn't affect my choices as an actor."