Tom Hardy Shuts Down Reporter Asking About His Sexuality

Tom Hardy has won accolades for virtually every part he’s played since he arrived on the acting scene in 2001’s Band of Brothers, and the attention the actor is receiving for his dramatic turn as the Kray brothers in Legend is also rightfully won. However, it was Hardy’s response to a reporter eager for information about Hardy’s sexuality that garnered attention this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Graeme Coleman, from the LGBT site Daily XTra, dared to question Tom Hardy about his sexuality, in no small part due to one of the two roles he plays in Legend, that of Ronnie Kray, who was very open about his sexuality.

“But given interviews you’ve done in the past, your own sexuality seems a bit more ambiguous. Do you find it hard for celebrities to talk to media about their sexuality?” Coleman asked.

Needless to say, Tom Hardy, who is married and waiting for the birth of his first child, was not impressed. To be fair, Tom Hardy should also not have been entirely surprised, given Coleman does write for a publication in the LGBT genre, but a press conference is not necessarily the time or place to be discussing one’s sexuality.

In a 2008 interview with Attitude, according to Gawker, Tom Hardy discussed the notion of gay sexuality, and it was thought by many who read the interview at the time that the actor had more or less admitted that he had once had sex with men. When asked if he had ever had sex with men, Tom Hardy replied, “I’m an artist. I’ve played with everything and everyone.”

That was the interview that Coleman referred to when he had asked Tom Hardy the question about sexuality. When the actor understood what Coleman was driving at, Tom Hardy asked, “Are you asking me about my sexuality?”

Coleman was taken aback by the sudden question. “Um… sure,” he said.

“Why?” Tom Hardy demanded.

When Coleman did not respond, Tom Hardy simply said, “Thank you,” and carried on with the press conference, according to Gawker.

To that point in the press conference, Tom Hardy was energetic and enthusiastic about his dual role in Legend and admitted that stories like the Krays and violent characters like Britain’s Michael Gordon Peterson (aka Charles Bronson), whom he played in 2008’s Bronson, were always appealing to him. He noted that he had a challenge to constantly react to himself in Legend.

“A lot of acting is about reacting. It’s dangerous for a performer to act in a bubble, which is technically what I was doing, with myself,” Tom Hardy said.

[Photo by Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images Entertainment]