Wentworth Miller

BRITISH-BORN HOLLYWOOD STAR WENTWORTH MILLER KNOWS ALL ABOUT DESPAIR AND DEPRESSION, SELF-LOATHING AND THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE. BUT HE’S BEATEN THEM ALL TO STAR IN SOME OF THE BIGGEST TV HITS OF ALL TIME — AND CAME OUT IN A VERY PUBLIC WAY. NO WONDER HE’S OUR MAN OF THE YEAR

WORDS: GARETH MCLEAN PHOTOGRAPHS: MAGNUS HASTINGS FASHION: JOSEPH KOCHARIAN & JEANNE YANG

MAN OF THE YEAR

‘ACTION HERO’

Wentworth Miller has a message for anyone struggling to come to terms with their sexuality, anyone being bullied because of who they love, or considering suicide as a result of the consequent feelings of being lost, alone, low and in a place so dark that death looks like a viable alternative.

“I would say what others have said: it gets better. One day, you’ll find your tribe. You just have to trust that people are out there waiting to love you and celebrate you for who you are,” he says.

“In the meantime, the reality is you might have to be your own tribe. You might have to be your own best friend. That’s not something they’re going to teach you in school. So start the work of loving yourself.”

With German, Jewish, Russian and Cherokee ancestry, his parents — a black father and white mother — moved the family from the UK to America when he was 12 months old.

He continues: “Make sure you talk to yourself, in your head or out loud, like you talk to your best friend — or how you’d want your best friend to talk to you.”

Miller knows what he’s talking about. The actor and writer — catapulted to fame by his starring role in Prison Break, the sequel of which hits TV early next year — has experienced despair and depression, the agony of anxiety and soul-destroying self-loathing.

He has felt suicidal and he has attempted suicide more than once — first when he was 15.

In 2013, at a Human Rights Campaign event, he talked movingly about that attempt.

Alone for the weekend at his family home, he swallowed a bottle of pills. “When someone asked me if that was a cry for help, I said no.

“I told no one. You only cry for help if you believe there’s help to cry for,” revealed Miller.

“ASHAMED AND IN PAIN, I CONSIDERED MYSELF DAMAGED GOODS. THE VOICES IN MY HEAD URGED ME DOWN THE P ATH TO SELF- DESTRUCTION”

Wentworth wears cardigan by Casely Hayford, t-shirt by Ron Dorff, joggers and trainers by Diesel