Jane Lynch felt like she had a "disease" when she realised she was gay.
The 'Glee' actress lived a life of "secrecy" growing up in Chicago and confessed her sexuality in her journal - which she promptly threw away so no one would find out.
Speaking in new web series 'It Got Better' - which features LGBT celebrities talking abut accepting their sexuality - she said: "It was almost like I had a disease I had been diagnosed. I had a journal and ... I remember I wrote, 'I am gay. No one can ever know this.' And I went four blocks away and threw it out in somebody else's garbage. It led to a life of secrecy that I had to unravel."
Jane was terrified she would be "ostracised" if she revealed her sexuality to others.
She said: "For me, to be ostracised would have been the worst thing. To be thought of as different and not accepted was a fate worse than death."
The 53 year old actress says she always felt different to her female classmates but didn't realise she was a lesbian until she was 14.
She said: "I identified more with boy things. I enjoyed dressing like a boy. The boys stopped wanting to play with me when I got to be about 10 and I had to fight to play baseball."
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