They were at very different stages of their career.
One was coming off becoming the first transgender actor ever nominated for an Emmy Award.
Another was overseeing one of the greatest sitcom empires TV had ever seen.
Alexei Hay for EW
Still others were enjoying a “moment” after decades in the business.
“Almost every Fourth of July I post that picture.
It’s up on my wall in my home.
EW
It’s just genuinely beautiful.”
“I was the black sheep of the family.
My aunts, uncles, and cousins said horrible things about me.”
EW
When the cover came out, that all changed.
You said all those things about me, I feel no guilt about ghosting."
“That’s the least magnanimous answer I’ve given in an interview ever.”
Aimee Spinks/Starz
“It was a 1930s look.
He took classic shots of me: the chin in the hand and holding a cigarette.
“I’m not saying it wasn’t true.
Jordon Nuttall/Fox
I have character flaws, which I think most of us do,” he says.
“You don’t want to necessarily see them in the headlines.
That being said, I probably had it coming.
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Anger is a mask for fear.
I was trying to the best of my ability to do something that was worthwhile in comedy.
When I felt that goal was being threatened, I probably didn’t handle it well.
There is a learning curve in being a human being.
I had to go through that period.
What doesn’t kill us makes us bitter.”
“EW has been with us throughout this whole journey.
All the covers reflect the content of the seasons.”
(And before any of them, hegot a Breaking Big featurein 2014.)
It’s different from the others, which were a lot more lush.
That moment, surely, arrived when he found himself in the magazine.
“I thought I was going to make shows on The WB or UPN.
I had no idea that something that started Off Broadway in New York could get me there.
Do the project that keeps you up at night, because you never know where it might lead you.
It could lead you all the way to the cover of EW.”
(“That photo shoot was just so much fun,” she reflects.
“You know some people will frame their covers or put them on the coffee table?
Alas, she has yet to roll her r’s in Barcelona.
I pray it’s not another 17 years before that happens.”
Sarah Rodman
For more celebrations of EW’s 30th anniversary,order the September issue ofEntertainment Weeklynow.
