Quick summary
- Sir Ian McKellen has described the reassurance he gave Troye Sivan before the singer came out as gay, according to Attitude.
- The pair first worked together in 2010 on a touring Australian production of Waiting for Godot.
- McKellen made the remarks to Fournine while promoting his new film Ebenezer.
- In 2026 McKellen voiced the opening of Sivan’s music video for “Party”.
Sir Ian McKellen says he told a young Troye Sivan that “it’s going to be alright” as they said goodbye after working together, long before the singer spoke publicly about his sexuality. The actor shared the memory in an interview reported by Attitude on 12 November.
What McKellen remembers
McKellen was speaking to Fournine to promote Ebenezer, a film inspired by A Christmas Carol in which he plays Marley, the late business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. Asked about Sivan, he said he could not be sure whether he had picked up on something, but that at the farewell he told the young performer not to worry because it was going to be alright.
He added that Sivan remembers the exchange that way, and that he admires who the singer has become. In his words, Sivan is doing very well.
How the two met
According to Attitude, the pair first worked together in 2010, when both appeared in a touring production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in Australia. Sivan was a teenager at the time.
They reunited this year. McKellen, who is 87, supplied the opening voiceover for Sivan’s video for “Party”, a track from the singer’s fourth studio album, She’s the Best.
Sivan’s side of the story
Sivan has spoken about the same period before. He told GQ Germany in 2023 that he had not yet come out to his parents during the tour, but wondered whether he should tell McKellen. He said he felt the actor had somehow noticed, and that he wanted to talk to someone about it urgently because McKellen was so friendly.
Attitude reports that Sivan had come out to his family at 15 and came out publicly in a YouTube video in 2013, when he was 18. McKellen’s own public coming out was in 1988, during a live debate on BBC Radio 3’s Third Ear, when he was 48. The two appeared together on the cover of Attitude in June 2018, which the magazine framed as two generations of queer experience.
What happens next
Ebenezer is the film McKellen is currently promoting, though the source does not give a release date. Sivan’s album She’s the Best is already out, with “Party” the video that brought the two back together. For more on the singer, see everything we publish about Troye Sivan, or browse our Music and Celebrities pages.
Frequently asked questions
When did Troye Sivan and Ian McKellen first work together?
In 2010, in a touring Australian production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, according to Attitude.
What did Ian McKellen tell Troye Sivan?
McKellen says he told Sivan, as they said goodbye, that he should not worry because it was going to be alright.
When did Troye Sivan come out?
Attitude reports he came out to his family at 15 and publicly in a YouTube video in 2013, at the age of 18.
How are they connected now?
McKellen provided the opening voiceover for Sivan’s 2026 music video for “Party”, from the album She’s the Best.
