'Perfume' star Ben Whishaw, who is in a civil partnership with boyfriend Mak Bradshaw, had a hard time coming out as gay

Ben Whishaw is all set to appear in the new revival of The Crucible, which is Arthur Miller’s classic drama about the Salem witch trials. With this drama, Whishaw will surely leave his mark on the stage as usual.

The talented actor is often regarded as one of the naturally gifted actors and is widely praised for his brilliance on stage and screen.

But despite being one of the most talented actors of our time, the actor has suffered a lot due to his sexuality. The actor has had to struggle hard to come out as gay because of the negative view of the society towards LGBT people.

Whishaw, who does not prefer to discuss his private life with the media, once said that, "For me, it's important to keep a level of anonymity. As an actor, your job is to persuade people that you're someone else. So if you're constantly telling people about yourself, I think you're shooting yourself in the foot."

Hollywood where celebrities make money out by selling the scoop on their personal lives, Whishaw falls under a different category of actors. In an interview with Out magazine in 2011, the actor said: "As an actor you have total rights to privacy and mystery, whatever your sexuality, whatever you do. I don't see why that has to be something you discuss openly because you do something in the public eye. I have no understanding of why we turn actors into celebrities."

His rep confirmed that Whishaw had entered into a civil partnership with his Australian composer boyfriend, Mark Bradshaw in August 2012. Later, in 2014, the actor eventually opened up about his sexuality and relationship with his partner. He publicly discussed him coming out as a gay man and said that it was a very difficult experience for him but everyone was surprisingly lovely. The Perfume fame added that it was really very difficult of the LGBT people to come out of the cocoon of sexuality and confront the mass as our society still views them lesser than humans.

Whishaw aged 34 believes that it is quite difficult and private move for most people. And also dislikes the term ‘coming out’ and revealed that it was really awkward telling his parents that he was gay.

 ‘It’s hard to have a conversation with people you’ve know your whole life about a very intimate thing.

‘It’s massively weighted with all sorts of stuff, whatever the wider world is saying,’ he told the Sunday Times Magazine.

It might have been difficult for him but the experience was not so dramatic. He says, ‘Everyone was surprisingly lovely.

‘I hadn’t anticipated they would be, but they were.’

The critically acclaimed actor has previously done roles portraying a homosexual in plays and movies alike. In 2014, Whishaw starred in the independent film ‘Lilting’ where he plays the role of a gay lover to a Cambodian Chinese man.