Jim Nabors Marries Longtime Gay Love, Joins Hollywood Men ‘Coming Out’

Jim Nabors has married his partner in a “simple exchange of rings in front of a judge in a Seattle hotel room,” after a 38-year-long relationship.

News that Jim Nabors married the man quietly may have come as a shock to some who know him best as the titular character in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., but Nabors is one of several adult men in Hollywood to come out after a long period of being in the closet — a personal circumstance deemed by many to be career destroying, a notion that seems to have been single-handedly put to bed by superstar Neil Patrick Harris.

The New York Times refers back to a local news source in Hawaii, where Nabors and his partner now live. The paper explains:

“Hawaii News Now of Honolulu reported that Mr. Nabors, 82, the actor and singer, who now lives in Hawaii, and Mr. Cadwallader, 64, who works with him, were married on Jan. 15 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. The couple, who traveled to Seattle a few weeks after same-sex marriages became legal in Washington State, were wed in a private ceremony witnessed by friends who live near Mr. Nabors and Mr. Cadwallader, Hawaii News Now said.”

According to the paper, Jim Nabors declined an on-camera interview, but did say that he and Cadwallader previously “had no rights as a couple” and that the impetus was because “when you’ve been together 38 years, I think something’s got to happen there, you’ve got to solidify something.”

Of his own sexual orientation, Nabors said:

“I haven’t ever made a public spectacle of it … Well, I’ve known since I was a child, so, come on. It’s not that kind of a thing. I’ve never made a huge secret of it at all … My friend and I, my partner, we went through all of this 38 years ago. So I mean, we made our vows and that was it. It was to each other, but nevertheless, we were a couple.”

Jim Nabors as he marries is not the only star to come out after a long career this month — Victor Garber also recently confirmed that he is gay to a blogger at an event.