Kris?

[silversolitaire]

McKellen Splits from Toyboy Lover

Gay movie veteran Sir Ian McKellen has split from his toyboy lover just two months after announcing he had 'wed' the New Zealander after an intimate ring-exchange ceremony. Friends of the couple claim sexy Greg Nickels - who he met on the set of Lord Of The Rings in New Zealand - upset the British thespian after he was spotted flirting with women behind McKellen's back. The actor says, "It has unfortunately come to an end. It was another attempt to get in contact with real life. I'm not unhappy living on my own. I don't feel like a failure."

[source]

Comments

[kribban.livejournal.com]

Yeah I read it. Bugs me that they call Nick toyboy.
I think they really loved each other. Anyway, I feel so bad for Ian.
63 and single. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but he was single for ten years before he met Nick and he said not having a partner is the one thing he regrets in life. But I don't worry - I'll bet a hundred bucks he has a new partner before the year is over. I somehow don't think he has problems getting dates. :-) But yeah, single!Ian... Mmm. I wonder what he'd like me to cook for him? *thinks*

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Yes, I thought "toyboy" was really rude and disrespectful. It makes it look like they only were together a bit for sex and then decided to split up. And that's not true from the impression I got and it also kinda supports the typical gay public image of "Gays can't have a relationship anyway, it's all about sex."

I feel sorry for him, because it probably hurt him to split up and all and to find out about this. Okay, it does sound as if flirting with a woman was the unforgiveable sin, whereas flirting with a guy would have been okay. I would like to think of Ian as less prejudiced than that. But maybe there's more to it than we know.

He probably won't have troubles finding a new partner, especially with so many people adoring him as an actor and with his recent popularity and all. But maybe he doesn't want to. He seems to be pretty selective about his partners, and that's a good thing.

[kribban.livejournal.com]

I agree. As for the reason why they split up, I don't think you should take it too seriously. The Internet and the tabloids are after all full of crap. IMDB isn't exactly always reliable, after all didn't they say he just split up from his last relationship when in reality it was fifteen years ago (!) Anyway, there could be a million reasons why they split up. It could be Ian's fault, it could be Nick's fault or it could just be (as it sounds to me) due to Long Distance and work and they parted on good terms. People do break up without either party being a villain but that seems to be lost on the press. One clue to the lack of reliability of the source: They never married. In Ian's last "Rumours False and True" he denied it.