TORONTO — The Canadian grandson of late Egyptian actor Omar Sharif said this week his famous grandfather never expressed negative views on his being gay.
“Before anything, in the eyes of my grandparents, I was a grandson,” said Omar Sharif Jr. “It was never a topic of conversation in our relationship. It never changed. We never spoke about it.”
Omar Sharif died July 10 in Cairo after suffering a heart attack. He was 83. His wife Faten Hamama died in January, also at 83.
Sharif Jr., who was born in Montreal to the Lawrence of Arabia star’s son Tarek El-Sharif, studied at Queens University in Kingston, Ont. and eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
He stars in the new movie The Secret Scripture alongside Theo James, Eric Bana and Vanessa Redgrave.
In 2013, Sharif Jr. told the Montreal Gazette he tries to return to Montreal every three months.
Sharif Jr. appeared on Tuesday’s episode of Jaafar Abdul Karim’s Shabab Talk on Arabic television, where sexuality is rarely discussed.
“I’m a son, I’m a brother, I’m a coworker, I’m a friend,” said Sharif Jr. “I’m not a fact, or a figure, or a statistic. I’m not a moral or an ethical debate.”
The 31-year-old said he believes his grandparents support him.
“I think the best thing that I could do in life is to live openly and authentically and happily, and if I’m doing that, I know I’m making them happy because that’s all they would want for me,” said Sharif Jr.
“They would want me to be happy. That’s what grandparents should want for their grandchildren.”
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