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‘Prison Break’ star Wentworth Miller reveals autism diagnosis; ‘being autistic is central to who I am’

The New York Daily News - 7/28/2021

Wentworth Miller has revealed he was diagnosed with autism as an adult last year.

The former “Prison Break” star took to Instagram to share his feelings about the developmental disorder that usually affects about 1 in 54 children.

“Preceded by a self-diagnosis. Followed by a formal diagnosis,” the 49-year-old actor wrote in the caption of a photo of a blank white square, adding, “[It was] a shock. But not a surprise.”

Miller noted that he has too much learn about the disorder to bear the mantle for it.

“There is a now-familiar cultural narrative...that goes ‘Public figure shares A, B and C publicly, dedicates platform to D, E and F,” he maintained. “[T]hat’s not necessarily what’s going to happen here....Right now my work looks like evolving my understanding. Re-examining 5 decades of lived experience thru a new lens. That will take time.”

The Golden Globe Award nominee continued, “I don’t want to run the risk of suddenly being a loud, ill-informed voice in the room. The #autistic community (this I do know) has historically been talked over. Spoken for. I don’t wish to do additional harm.”

Miller said he’s realized “being autistic is central to who I am. To everything I’ve achieved/articulated.”

The U.K.-born biracial actor ended his message by thanking those who “consciously or unconsciously gave me that extra bit of grace + space over the years, allowed me to move thru the world in a way that made sense to me whether or not it made sense to them.”

Miller revealed he was gay in 2013, and also revealed that being cyberbullied about his appearance at one point left him suicidal.

In 2019, he revealed he wouldn’t return to a Prison Break reboot, and that he was “done” playing heterosexual characters.

This season, he reprised his role on “Law & Order: SVU” as Assistant District Attorney Isaiah Holmes in an episode that revealed his character had been bullied because of his sexuality.

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