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is not afraid of putting it all out there anymore. The 83-year-old's new memoir, Who Knew, has been making many a headline these days thanks to Diller coming out as gay in it, and dishing about his incredible and storied life-slash-career. But that revelation is just one of several cups of piping-hot tea in the new book — like this new one, which reveals that almost starred in , but quit at the last minute due to, as Diller puts it, the "somewhat gay subtext" of the film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the book contains an anecdote about how Diller believes Travolta "played" then-Paramount Pictures president Michael Eisner in order to get out of the film. "He slumped down in a chair in Michael's office, started to cry and said, 'I can't do American Gigolo. I'm too sad. I'm still in mourning," referring to the death of his mother in 1978 and then-girlfriend Diana Hyland the year prior. "It's the wrong thing for me to do. You have to let me out of it,'" Diller, who was the CEO of Paramount at the time, writes. "Michael came down to my office and said, 'John's just left, and we have to let him out of the movie because he just can’t do it.' I said, 'He's faking it and using you. It's too late to recast, and he's perfect for it.'"

Diller, as he puts it, “was certain [Travolta] had acted his way through his meeting with Michael," and that the actor no longer wanted to do Gigolo because "he was afraid of playing that character because of its somewhat gay subtext. For days, I said, 'I'm not even going to hear of letting him out of the movie, full stop, period.'" But, eventually — as we all know — he did relent and let Travolta out of his contract, given that the role went on to be played by in a career-defining (and acclaimed) turn.

In many ways, Diller's words are a confirmation of what many already knew, thanks to American Gigolo director 's comments on the matter. Back in 2024, Schrader told THR that "three things" led Travolta to leave that film: the passing of his mother, "his first mega-flop, a film called Moment to Moment," and the actor's "growing anxiety about the gay subtext [of the film]."

Travolta's anxiety is, perhaps, no surprise. The actor has long been dogged by rumors regarding his sexuality. Curious to know more? Keep reading in the section below.

For those who have been living under a rock, and/or are too young to remember celebrity rumors from decades ago, allow us to fill you in. You see, many people believe that John Travolta is gay. For as long as the actor has been famous, rumors have swirled regarding his sexuality, despite having been married to fellow actress Kelly Preston from 1991 until her death in 2020 from breast cancer. The actor was sued in 2012 by a male massage therapist, and in 2016, the whole thing blew up again when the old version of Gawker posted a report on the actor's alleged proclivities.

But that is far from the first time Travolta — a noted Scientologist, an organization known to allegedly encourage people to stay in the closet — back in 2010, Carrie Fisher, a longtime friend of Travolta's, had this interaction with a reporter from The Advocate:

Wow! I mean, my feeling about John has always been that we know and we don't care. Look, I'm sorry that he's uncomfortable with it, and that's all I can say. It only draws more attention to it when you make that kind of legal fuss. Just leave it be.

So...there you have it! Some context as to why Travolta might have been afraid to take on a role that had him — one of the most sought-after sex symbols of his heyday — portraying a gay and/or queer man. (And I guess it's why he went on to do that near-career-ending film, Perfect.) It's a shame, really, that anyone feels the need to hide their sexuality or fear blowback for being who they are — if these alleged rumors are true, of course — but it's not exactly unprecedented, either. Certainly a man like Diller, who himself existed in a glass closet as a gay man who was married to a woman (fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg) for decades, can understand that.

Source:

The Hollywood Reporter