okay. genuine question, as a former larrie. i get the closeting narrative in larry. sure. they were young, had their image drawn up for them to earn big people big bucks, they were literal children who thought this would pass. i personally think that made them drift apart but that's beside the point.
with hudcon we see like a completely opposite set of criteria. how on earth can you personally see closeting there? crucially from what we can tell they've both wanted this for a long time, went into it knowing what it entails because both have been in the industry for years, one way or another. both have expressed having supportive friends, families, managers. they are stars of a queer show filmed in fucking canada. going big and international does not negate the fact that both continuosly align themselved with queer projects and immensely weird filmmaking that resonates with other queer and weird people.
given all that. from their own perspective, how on earth does closeting make sense? bearding specifically? they're not teenagers floundering through the industry they don't know. they're professionals working, sure, in extreme circumstances, but smart enough to still not crumble and go forth. private labels of identity is one thing and it's completely understandable, but given all that, how, just how can you still believe in bearding? for these specific people?
You're making some assumptions here that i don't agree with, so maybe that's why we're seeing things differently. I also believe your thinking is too black and white.
"They've both wanted this for a long time, went into it knowing what that entails because both have been in the industry for years, one way or another".
"Both have expressed having supportive friends, families, and managers".
Yes, they've both wanted this breakthrough for a long time. They've both worked hard for it, and they're in their mid-twenties, so my guess is they were both pretty desperate for it to finally happen. Probably willing to do pretty much anything, to use the momentum of HR and establish themselves as actors, and public figures at A-list level.
I don't think they knew the full extent of what it all entails. I don't think anyone can fully know until you're in it. Connor has said he's just trying to not go insane. Hudson keeps saying he's overwhelmed and needs to paint and read to escape the pressure and attention he's under.
No, they haven't been in the industry for years. They both were working in resturants primarily while getting small gigs like short films, modelling jobs, ad campaigns, indie films, and Connor had a two minute role in the Joker, but he wasn't even invited to the premiere. They did both have managers, but they didn’t have an agent, a brand manager, a management team, groomers, stylists and personal assistants. They certainly didn’t have a PR team, and images to curate, social media managers and millions of eyes on them. Now they have legal advisors, PR strategists and film agents who help them make decisions in order to succeed in the industry and to grow their career.
Yes, both have said their friends and family are supportive. But that isn't all true. Hudson has had several unfavorable leaks happen that can only be attributed to someone with access, a jealous or attention seeking "friend". Connor's dad is noticably absent from his big moments, and his extended family is MAGA and anti-trans. When it comes to their management, my best bet is that it's them advising them to keep their sexualities unconfirmed, to appeal to a het audience, and to create seperate brands for themselves and keep a budding relationship between them under wraps.
You can disagree all you want with the need for Hudson to have a beard, i don't think it's neccessary either, but Hudson and Connor apparently do. Even through the reason for the need for a beard (and this high exposure and publicity of the fake relationship) isn't immediately clear to us right now, doesn’t mean that the H/K relationship is real. To me, the relationship has all the classic hallmarks of a Hollywood bearding relationship. Half the fandom recognise it for what it is. There is also plenty of reasons to choose from in regards to the WHY.
A closeted queer man having a beard should come as no suprise to you. There are several other examples of other celebrities doing the same thing right now. A closeted queer man, who is in a budding romantic relationship/dating another queer man, having a beard should also not be a surprise to you. Especially as a former larrie.
