Pee Wee Herman actor Paul Reubens comes out as gay in posthumous doc

Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Robbins He opened up about his sexuality in the new documentary He pees himself.

In the new project, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, January 23, Critics I learned that the actor had a secret boyfriend named man From Echo Park, California.

“I’ve been secretive about my sexuality even with my friends (out of) self-loathing or self-preservation,” Robbins shared in the documentary via New York Post. “I was conflicted about my sexuality. But fame was more complicated.”

Sitting with the director Matt Wolf For 40 hours of interviews, Robbins spoke candidly about his personal life as well as his experience playing the iconic character Pee-wee Herman.

Although Robbins He died in July 2023 At the age of 70 after a private battle with cancer, he made his intentions for the documentary clear.

“More than anything else, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was for people to see who I really was and how painful and horrible it was to be labeled for something I wasn’t,” Robbins said in his final audio recording that day. Before his death. “To be described as an outcast; To make people fear you, or distrust you.

Robbins said he had “many, many secret relationships,” but his career always came before his love life.

His standing in Hollywood took a major blow in 1991 when he was arrested at an adult movie theater and charged with indecent exposure. (He later pleaded no contest.)

“I kept who I was a secret for a very long time. It backfired when I got caught,” he said in the documentary. “People had never seen a picture of me other than Pee-wee Herman. Suddenly, I had it Charlie Manson mugshot. I lost control of my identity. “It was devastating.”

More than three decades after the incident, Robbins said he still feels the effects of his actions.

“It’s shocking the horrible, horrible things people think about me,” he said. “It’s still an important footnote.”

Ultimately, Robbins seems to want his fans to have an honest, fuller picture of his entire life that includes secrets that may finally come to light.

“I was out of the closet, then back in the closet,” he said. “I wasn’t following Paul Reubens’ career, I was following Pee Wee Herman’s career.”

He pees himself It is scheduled to air on Max later this year.