The Walking Dead's Daniel Newman Comes Out as Gay

Daniel Newman, best known for his work on The Walking Dead, is publicly opening up about his sexuality for the first time.

The 35-year-old actor released a powerful video thanking his fans for support and opening up about his decision to publicly reveal he is gay.

“I don’t want to be hidden and have to dodge the question,” Daniel told People. “I’m proud of who I am.”

“I grew up in a very conservative southern Georgia home, and it didn’t really matter what your sexuality was – it just wasn’t open conversation,” he added. “It was always, ‘Don’t talk about your private life,’ so I was so used to that. I didn’t really think about it really as hiding. I never thought of myself as being in a closet or hidden. It just was that I didn’t really feel like talking about my private life.”

Daniel opened up about volunteering at LGBT youth shelters and how the kids there assumed he was straight. “I said, ‘I’m not straight,’” he said in the new interview. “Then they said, ‘Well, why haven’t you ever said that in public? I’ve never read that anywhere.’ That was just a big wake up call for me that these kids need every role model that they can get.”

Daniel revealed that he is in a happy relationship right now.

“I have an incredible boyfriend now. He’s amazing. So, yeah, I’m gay,” he said. “I think it’s really important in our culture, at this time, that everybody is just honest about who they are. It’s such an amazing community and it doesn’t make sense to hide who you are.”