Comedian Tig Notaro has had a number of surprises in her life — from tragic, like her cancer diagnosis, to hilarious, like her spectacular "Wheel of Fortune" fail. But on an episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" that aired on June 5, she said that her twin 7-year-old boys really threw her for a loop.
When Stephen Colbert asked Notaro how her Pride month was going, she admitted that things had been "a little weird" because she and her wife "found out recently that our our sons didn't know we were gay."
Notaro is married to actor Stephanie Allynne. The pair met on the movie set of "In a World" in 2013 and were married in 2015.
"Wow," Colbert said with a flat tone. "How did you ... uh ... miss that?"
Chuckling, Notaro said, "That's the question we had."
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The kids' school is a six-minute drive from their house, and halfway into the trip, the boys overheard their moms chatting about something in the front seat. Notaro happened to reference the fact that she was gay in that conversation.
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"Our son Finn leans forward and said, 'You're gay?'" Laughing, Notaro explained, "I was so stunned. Because we've lived together almost eight years and I've been gay the whole time — and even prior — and will continue."
"That's what I value about you, your consistency," Colbert said without missing a beat.
Notaro said to Finn, "Yes, we are." And then she had three minutes to explain what that meant before the car arrived at school.
"I start explaining what 'gay' is," Notaro said, and while she was explaining it to her sons, she started feeling insecure. "Listen, it wasn't X-rated. It was just like 'girls like girls and boys like boys.'"
Notaro was hugely relieved to hear Finn say, "Oh, I love my family."
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