Soap Opera Star Tuc Watkins Comes Out

Soap opera star Tuc Watkins has come out as gay in a twist that followed closely with one of his famous television plot lines.

Watkins appeared in Desperate Housewives, joining the cast in 2007 as Susan Delfino’s neighbor Bob Hunter. Bob and his male partner (played by Kevin Rahm) were trying to adopt a baby together, but coming into some difficulties along the way.

Behind the scenes, Watkins was going through a similar situation. The soap opera star had not yet come out, but was in the midst of fulfilling his dreams of fatherhood. Watkins recently announced in an interview with Marie Osmond’s Hallmark Channel talk show Marie that he welcomed twin sons with the help of a surrogate.

For Watkins, it was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

“A lot of people at some point in their lives think, ‘Am I going to be a parent? Do I want to be a parent?’ ” Watkins said. “And when I was young, I knew three things: I knew I was gay, I knew one day I was gonna be a dad, and I knew that Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was going to be the best movie of all time.”

Watkins added: “So far, I’ve been right about all three.”

In the interview on Marie, Watkins was joined by his sister Courtney Watkins, a teacher and host of the Disney web series The Possibility Shop. Watkins talked about working on Desperate Housewives and the difficulty of playing an openly gay man while he was still in the closet and trying to have kids through surrogacy as a single gay man.

After soap opera star Tuc Watkins comes out, he’s got another big step ahead — a television comeback. He’s signed on to reprise his role as David Vickers on the One Life to Live reboot, which airs April 29.