Dustin Lance Black says his late mother Anne Bisch was supportive when he came out as gay.
The 45-year-old screenwriter – who is married to Olympic diver Tom Daley, with whom he has 13-month-old son Robert – was brought up in a strict Mormon household, and feared coming out as gay because he thought his mother would think it was "wrong".
But after he came out in his senior year of college, he couldn’t believe his mother wanted to fly out to Los Angeles to meet his other gay friends, as she wanted to "find out for herself" what they were like.
Speaking to Jason Mohammad on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday (04.08.19), he said: "Though she’d been told her entire life that we were sick and wrong and going to hell, and still illegal in many parts of the country, she wanted to find out for herself."
Dustin added that his mother’s courage proved how supportive she was, and said her willingness to listen to his friends meant that "many of those misconceptions were dispelled".
The director and producer went on to have good relationship with his mother before her passing, and says the experience brought them closer together.
Elsewhere in the interview, Dustin also explained how his mother was the inspiration behind his new book, ‘Mama’s Boy’, which was released in April this year.
Talking about the book – which is a deeply personal memoir that explores his relationship with his mother – Dustin explained: "Really this is her book, I’m a supporting character in this thing. This is about a woman who was very conservative and from a very republican part of the United States."
Dustin’s mother was paralysed from the waist down from polio when she was two-years-old, but miraculously defied doctors’ predictions that she’d never walk, work, marry, or have children.
She eventually learnt to walk with the aid of crutches, married three times, raised three sons mostly by herself and ran a lab at a military base.
Dustin recalled how he and his siblings "raised her in many ways as much as she was raising us."
Of his mother, Dustin explained: "I thought there was purpose in sharing that strength. I’ve always marvelled at how she used that courage and strength not just for herself, but she used that courage and strength too when she found out I was gay, instead of just rejecting me or throwing me out of the home like too many still do."
Dustin’s book, ‘Mama’s Boy’ is out now.
Dustin Lance Black: My mother was supportive of my sexuality
