I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labeled something that I wasn’t.” Having a pedophile label altered “everything moving forward and backwards.”
“Paul told me that he had decided he was ready to come out,” Wolf, the documentary’s director, said USA TODAY in a statement.
“Since he had been extremely private throughout his life, talking about his sexuality was probably the most sensitive thing we had to navigate together.”
“I’m gay and I’ve made several films about queer history, so I empathize with the experiences of artists and entertainers like Paul from different generations,”
Wolf said. “I wanted to let Paul discuss his experience as a gay person and as a closeted person on his own terms, and he did so beautifully.”
Reubens, 70, lost his fight with illness in secret for six years before passing away in 2023. On his official Instagram page, the children’s entertainer’s estate verified the news of his passing.
