Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens comes out as gay in new documentary released almost two years after his death

Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens, who died in 2023, has opened up about his sexuality in the new documentary, Pee-wee as Himself, which premiered posthumously at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, January 23.

“I was secretive about my sexuality even to my friends [out of] self-hatred or self-preservation,” Reubens shared in the documentary. “I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated.”

Sitting down with director Matt Wolf for 40 hours’ worth of interviews, Reubens spoke candidly about his personal life as well as his experience playing the iconic Pee-wee Herman character.

Although Reubens died in July 2023 at the age of 70 after a private cancer battle, he made his intentions about the documentary clear.

“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was for people to see who I really am and how painful and dreadful it was to be labelled something I wasn’t,” Reubens said in his last audio recording made on the day before his death. “To be labelled a pariah; to have people be scared of you, or untrusting.”

Reubens said that he had “many, many secret relationships,” but that his career always came before his love life.

His Hollywood status suffered a major blow in 1991 when he was arrested at an adult cinema and charged with indecent exposure.

“I kept who I was a secret for a very long time. That really backfired when I got arrested,” he said in the documentary. “People had never seen a photo of me other than Pee-wee Herman. And all of a sudden, I had a Charlie Manson mugshot. I lost control of my anonymity. It was devastating.”

“It’s shocking what horrible, awful stuff people think about me,” he shared. “It’s still a significant footnote.”

Ultimately, it appears Reubens wants his fans to get an honest, fuller picture of his entire life that included secrets that may finally be coming to light.

“I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet,” he shared. “I wasn’t pursuing the Paul Reubens career, I was pursuing the Pee-wee Herman career.”