Last photos of Richard Chamberlain before he died
Richard Chamberlain, the beloved ‘Dr. Kildare,’ is gone. The actor, who captivated audiences for decades, passed away at the age of 90 on March 30.
Now, new revelations about his final days are coming to light — and they’re more emotional than anyone could have imagined.
Despised himself as a child
People all around the world, both young and old, fell in love with Richard Chamberlain when he rose as a popular actor in the 1960s.
In my mind, he was the single biggest heartthrob on television at the time, and had roles in numerous popular shows and movies. He portrayed several eminent characters but, at the same time, led a tough life. He loved the fame, but it was also something he couldn’t escape from.
Chamberlain’s life was also marked by self-loathing — he despised himself as a child and carried the burden of hiding a major secret for many, many years.
As the king of the TV mini-series, his job was to be a “hetero heartthrob,” but in reality, his friends and nearly everyone in the industry knew he was gay. In 2003, he released his memoir Shattered Love, in which he came out as a gay man at age 69.
”When you grow up in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s being gay, it not only ain’t easy, it’s just impossible,” Chamberlain told the New York Times.
“You cannot do it, that being gay was the worst thing you can possibly be. I assumed there was something terribly wrong with me. And even becoming famous and all that, it was still there.”