Former Disney Channel star Garrett Clayton recently opened up and shared that, during his Teen Beach Movie days, he was surrounded by a team of people who seemingly kept him in the closet. While talking with Kim Possible actress Christy Carlson Romano in a recent YouTube video, the actor remembered a time in his life when he went through a “huge identity crisis” about his sexuality.

“A lot of people didn’t know at the time, I was fine and out growing up. When I had moved to LA and these opportunities came my way, it turned into — actually, funny enough, not Disney Channel keeping me in the closet,” the 29-year-old explained. “People, they assume it’s Disney controlling us. People are always like ‘Oh, was it Disney holding you in the closet?’ And, it’s like, actually I just had a team of people behind the scenes who represented me, who were coaching me through what to wear and how to speak, the way I held my body and the clothes I wore and what I could talk about, who they think I should be around when I want to hang out with people. It was a very intense process.”

He continued, “I’m sorry that I went through it. I had a huge identity crisis, because I was fine with who I was and then I thought who I was, was bad. And then to go through that and be watched while you’re doing it, and then it segued into being done with my time at Disney.”

As fans know, the triple threat publicly came out as gay back in August 2018. In a heartfelt Instagram caption about a film he worked on at the time, called Reach, Garrett revealed to fans that he was in a longterm relationship with Blake Knight. The couple has since announced their engagement!

Aside from Garrett, other former Disney Channel stars have also gotten real about being controlled by their past management. During an interview on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Demi Lovato got real about her struggles, and revealed that during her past appearances on the show, her old management team would hide all the snacks from her dressing room that had sugar in them.

“I lived a life for the past six years that I felt wasn’t my own,” the 27-year-old shared at the time. “I struggled really hard with an eating disorder, yes, and that was my primary problem. But my life, I just felt it was so, I don’t like to use this word, but I felt like it was controlled.”

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Youth Crisis Hotline at 1-800-448-4663.

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