Billy Porter Says He Has to Sell His House Because of the Hollywood Strikes

It's been a hard year for the performer.

Grand marshal Billy Porter attends the 2023 New York City Pride March on June 25, 2023 in New York City.
(Image credit: Photo by Roy Rochlin / Getty)

Billy Porter is known for speaking up for himself and for what he believes in, and right now he's throwing all of his support behind the Hollywood actors' strikes that have been going on for several weeks.

Porter is so committed to the strikes in fact that he revealed to the London Evening Standard in a recent interview, "I have to sell my house."

When the interviewer expressed their surprise on hearing this, the Pose star explained, "Yeah! Because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work].

"The life of an artist, until you make f***-you money—which I haven’t made yet—is still check-to-check. I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening."

Porter continued, "So to the person who said 'we’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments,' you’ve already starved me out." Here, the performer was referring to a statement reportedly made by a Hollywood executive amid the strikes.

Porter having to sell and move out of his house comes after he and his husband of six years Adam Smith announced their separation just over a month ago. Between that and the necessity of the strikes, it's obviously been a difficult year for the star.

Still, he's not letting these setbacks get him down, and he's especially been enjoying how often he gets recognized while out and about in London these days (while the musical he co-produced, A Strange Loop, runs). "A lot more than I thought!" he told the Standard. "Daddy didn’t know she was so international!"

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.