‘How I Met Your Mother’ Star Wayne Brady Comes out as Pansexual: “I Could Be Attracted to the Person That Is There”

Wayne Brady, the actor and comedian known for his gigs on How I Met Your Mother and Whose Line is it Anyway?, has come out as pansexual — or, as he also says, “Bisexual — with an open mind!”

In an exclusive interview with People, the 51-year-old star opened up about his journey toward self-discovery. He told the outlet that he identifies as pansexual, which he described as being attracted to “anyone who identifies as gay, straight, bi, transsexual or non-binary.”

“In doing my research, both with myself and just with the world, I couldn’t say if I was bisexual, because I had to really see what that was, especially because I really have not gotten a chance to act on anything,” he said, before later adding, “I think, at least for me for right now, [pansexual] is the proper place. I took pan to mean that not only can I be attracted to any of these people or types physically, but I could be attracted to the person that is there.”

The Let’s Make a Deal host told the outlet that went to therapy, where he was treated for his “love addiction” and forced to start examining why he was looking to find himself and his happiness in a “slew of people.”

“Fast forward to recently asking myself the question: ‘Wayne, um, are you gay?’ And the answer was no because despite having been in all of these unsuccessful relationships and now dealing with what I know can be diagnosed as love addiction, I started to go, ‘Okay, I’m feeling something, but I just don’t know how to get there,'” he explained. “And then I felt like a fraud.”

Brady added that he’s been attracted to “certain men” in his life but “always pushed that aside” because of his upbringing. Plus, he feared facing backlash in “today’s world,” which he called “scary as shit.”

“What’s the fastest way to hurt another man? I’m gonna call you out of your name,” he said. “I’m gonna call you gay. I’m gonna emasculate you. I’m gonna use the F-word. I learned that very early from the people around me, they’re like, ‘Oh, so those are bad things? Yeah. You, you don’t wanna be that.'”

Brady continued, “So, what does it mean if I feel something? I don’t think I’m gay, but what if I feel something for another [man]… That’s still gay. I was already bullied about a bunch of other shit. I didn’t wanna add a top hat on top of that suit.”

Despite being surrounded by a”wonderful” group of family and friends in the LGBTQ+ community, he “always felt like a sham” because he wasn’t being honest with himself. He justified keeping his secret by telling himself that his sexuality is his “personal business.”

“That gave me license to still live in the shadows and to be secretive,” he said. “What does that feel like to actually not be shameful, to not feel like, ‘Oh, I can’t be part of this conversation because I’m lying?’ I had to break that behavior.”

For now, Brady is focusing on being “the best Wayne Brady that everybody wants and expects.”

“Not dating yet though!” he said with a chuckle. “I am single, but it’s not about being with someone right now. I’ve got some work to do still. Then, Wayne as a single, open-minded pansexual can make a decision and be free and open to other people.”