After officially checking out of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital last night, Jake Borelli is looking back at the Grey’s Anatomy storyline that changed his life forever.
The actor, who played Levi “Glasses” Schmitt on the hospital drama for eight years, revealed in a recent Variety interview that he nearly turned down his character’s coming out storyline in season 15 because he was nervous to come out as gay himself. At the time, Borelli explained that he was worried that telling the world that he was gay would prevent him from becoming a successful actor.
“I almost said no, because I knew he would be the first major gay male character in the show, and that would be massive for the show,” Borelli said. “I would then be forced to talk about something that, at that point in my life, I wasn’t ready to talk about on the global level, which you can never be prepared for. But I did have all these fears that as an out gay person, you couldn’t be successful.”
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After Levi’s coming out episode aired, Borelli took to Instagram to announce his own sexuality, writing in part, “As a gay guy myself, tonight’s episode was so special to me.”
While the 33-year-old admitted in his Variety interview that he still considers it a scary time to be “thrust out into the world as a queer person,” he noted that he wouldn’t change his decision to come out alongside Levi for the world.
He continued, “The amount of joy that came from deciding to tell this story in an honest and authentic way is unparalleled, and my life has changed so much for the better after being authentic and vulnerable with myself and, in turn, vulnerable with other people.”
Borelli also shared that he’s gotten to “talk to so many more people” thanks to his character. “I’ve been able to really step into the queer community and be able to tell some of these stories that often go untold,” he said. “So as I move forward in my career and as I move away from Levi, or possibly come back to visit Levi, that will remain true for me; it’s finding ways to tell these well-rounded queer stories.”
Borelli, who had been out to his friends and family for nearly a decade before the announcement, previously told Entertainment Weekly that his parents were instrumental in helping him make his decision to come out both on the show and in real life. “My dad said, ‘When you have a truth about yourself and you finally have the courage to speak up and share that truth, a weight gets lifted,'” he recalled at the time. “I knew in that moment this is the right thing to do. This is bigger than me.”
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Levi would go on to become one-half of the first onscreen male couple in Grey’s history, dating surgeon Nico Kim (Alex Landi) for several seasons before eventually going their separate ways in season 18.
Borelli also commemorated his final Grey’s episode — and shared a bit about what Levi has come to mean to him — in a poignant Instagram post on Thursday.
“When I was growing up, the idea of seeing an out gay man play such a well rounded, fully formed, and courageous gay character felt like a pipe dream for me. I never would have guessed that I would be the one to get the opportunity to do just that,” he wrote. “Levi has taught me that when you lead with vulnerability and have the bravery to fully step into your authentic self, the world will open up for you in ways you never could have imagined.”
He continued, “I’m so grateful to have held hands with Levi through my own journey of acceptance, and I want to thank — from the bottom of my heart — all the people who helped bring this character to life and who put their necks on the line to tell this story on such a large and iconic platform as Grey’s Anatomy. I love you all and I will continue to champion authentic queer stories till the very end.”
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