TV
In the early 2010s, 'Days of Our Lives' took a massive step in showcasing LGBTQ representation when one of its main characters, Will Horton, came out as gay.
Published on February 19, 2023
2 min readIn the early 2010s, Days of Our Lives took a massive step in showcasing LGBTQ representation when one of its main characters, Will Horton, came out as gay. Will later married Sonny Kiriakis, becoming a part of the first male-male wedding on daytime TV.
Looking back on this iconic era, actor Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans) shared how Will’s coming out story has helped real-life families.
‘Days of Our Lives’ character Will Horton came out as gay to his family in 2012
In 2011, Will met Sonny, who had just moved to Salem. At the time, Sonny was already open about his sexuality, though Will was still dating Gabi Hernandez.
After Will began to hang out with Sonny and Sonny’s LGBTQ friends, Will saw the possibility of living life as an openly gay man. Will and Sonny soon fell in love, and in early 2012, Will came out as gay to his family members.
Since then, Will and Sonny have become a super-couple on Days of Our Lives. They got married in 2014 and became parents to Will’s daughter, Arianna, whom he had with Gabi. Although Will and Sonny have their ups and downs like every soap-opera couple, at the end of the day, they always find their way back to each other.
Deidre Hall explained how Will’s storyline helped real-life families
Will’s grandmother, Marlena, was one of the first people to fully accept his sexuality. Deidre Hall once shared how the pair’s on-screen conversations helped real-life families support their LGBTQ loved ones. She told Soaps.com:
“I’ve had an overwhelming response to people saying A, we love the gay story, B, we love the relationship between Will and his grandmother. I run into people saying, ‘That’s how I learned what to say to my son.’
A therapist came up during one of these events and the dad came to her and said, ‘I don’t know how to handle this. I’m OK with it, but I don’t know the words.’ She told me, ‘I taped your scenes with Will and I sat in the office and showed them to him. He said, in tears, ‘That’s how I’ll handle it.'”
Hall added, “Marlene [McPherson, ex-head-writer] and Darrell [Tnomas Jr., ex-head-writer] have given us the language of acceptance — not just for gay people. For helping our kids through hard times.”
Will Horton’s actor is leaving ‘Days of Our Lives’
Chandler Massey started playing Will in 2010 when he was a child. Massey took a break from the role for a few years in the mid-2010s, but he eventually returned in 2017. Since 2020, he has appeared on and off, and he recently left the show once again.
The show is writing Massey off by having Will move to New Zealand for his work. Sonny also decided to go with Will, taking both of them out of Salem for the time being.
Speaking to Soap Opera Digest in 2022, Massey shared he has another job as “a data visualization specialist at a health care analytics company.” He enjoys balancing acting with this “day job,” though it’s not clear if he currently has another acting project on the horizon.
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