Wentworth Miller felt he was "feeding a fantasy" before announcing he is gay

The 42-year-old actor told Details magazine: "I feel more fully expressed.

"After 'Prison Break,' I came to grips with the fact that my public persona was in misalignment with how I actually felt. I was out to a handful of people in my twenties, and once I hit 30, I was out to family and friends. But professionally, I was feeding a fantasy. I created this air of 'We don't address that thing.' "

Asked if he felt like he was lying about his sexuality in the past, he said: "My face was on billboards, and I thought it was my job to act a certain way. But I think audiences knew to a certain degree.

"The people onscreen aren't the characters they're playing. They're our projection of who we want them to be. I think it's possible to have a man-crush if you're not gay or to have a crush on a guy you know to be gay if you're a woman."

He added: "Attraction is fluid, and I think our imaginations are strong enough to hold a container for all of this complexity, even if we know on a subconscious level something's not what it appears to be."