"Prison Break" Star Reveals Multiple Suicide Attempts While Hiding Sexuality

" Prison Break" actor Wentworth Miller came out as gay in late August, and is now bravely riding a wave of honesty about his difficult past. Speaking at a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Seattle this past Saturday, the 41-year-old actor told the audience he attempted to commit suicide "more than once" as he dealt with hiding his sexuality.

He told a large audience, "The first time I tried to kill myself I was 15. I waited until my family went away for the family and I was alone in the house and I swallowed a bottle of pills. I don't remember what happened over the next couple of days but I'm pretty sure come Monday morning I was on the bus back to school pretending everything was fine."

"Growing up I was a target. Speaking the right way, standing the right way, holding your wrist the right way. Every day was a test and there was a thousand ways to fail. A thousand ways to portray yourself to not live up to someone else's standards of what was accepted."

Miller’s decision to come out was prompted by the Russian government's recently escalated discourse and laws on gays. He wrote a letter to the organizers of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival this August, saying that “in good conscience,” he couldn’t attend an event in a country that has such strict anti-gay laws, which include a ban on adoption of Russian babies by same-sex couples and a ban on "gay propaganda" that could extend to include leafleting or basic outreach for gay rights groups in the country. Many stars have spoken out against the new laws in Russia, including link vodka in protest of the laws.