Paul Reubens denies that he is “a pedophile” and more bomb shells from New Pee-Wee Herman Doc

In the new two-part HBO documentations PEE-Wee as herselfThe Paul Reubens Shares their last words with the world – delivers a series of bombers’ ups on the road.

Reubens, best known for its iconic alter ego, pee-wee herman, sat for more than 40 hours of one-to-one interviews, and discussed everything from his sexuality to the arrests he described as “giant footnotes” in his life and the unexpected way he chose to say goodbye.

Here are some of the most shocking and gripping moments to expect from the documentary.

Reubens comes out as gay

Although Reubens never publicly came out during his lifetime, director Matt Wolf says that it was something that the comedian always intended to do. “It was a decision he had made, but one that he was very ambivalent and worried about,” Wolf tells People in this week’s number. “He was very concerned that his sexuality was a decisive factor for who he was.”

For the documentary, Reubens reflected on a “long -term, very serious” relationship with a man named Guy shortly after college. They lived together, shared a cat and, according to Reuben, inspired the relationship much of his comedy. “I looked across the room and saw someone and fell in love immediately,” he remembered. “I just went,“ It’s him. It’s the guy. ”

In the end, Reubens prioritized his career and moved forward and hides his sexuality and resigned all future relationships. “I was as out as you can be, and then I went back in the closet,” he said. “My career would definitely have suffered if I was open gay. So I went a lot for many, many years to keep it secret.”

Reubens found much of its early inspiration in trait

During its time at the California Institute of the Arts, Reubens began exploring alternative forms of creativity. “It was just this little safe community of people,” he remembered. “Everyone seemed to figure out” Who am I as an artist? ”

For Reubens, performance art was what reasoned. “Sitting in the sleeping room at 2 o’clock, just hang out – you might think I was a drag queen. And you might be right,” he said. “Making drag and” pass ” – I can draw a line from it to have an alter ego and succeed in having that character” passport “as a real person.”

Reubens says his arrest for undue exposure in an adult theater was an “important footnote” in his life

“If I was a conflict about sexuality … fame was so much more complicated,” reflected the reubs in the documentary. He added that his arrest in 1991 for undue exposure in an adult theater in Sarasota, Florida, became a “big footnote” in his life. “It really backfired when I was arrested, and people had never seen a photo of me anything but (like) Pee-wee Herman, and then suddenly I got a Charlie Manson mug shot,” he said. “It’s shocking what is horrible, horrible, meaningful people say and think about me.”

Years later, police attacked their home and seized their collection of vintage homoerotic art, including materials that they categorized as child pornography.

“When he was going to discuss his (2002) arrest with me, he said that the overwhelming feeling was shock,” Wolf recalls. “From my point of view it was extremely unfair. So it was easy for me to put everything out clearly so that people could collectively realize that he had been abused.”

Reubens did not announce the filmmakers know that he is dying of cancer

Despite the depth of their conversation, Wolf says he had “no reason to believe that Reubens considered his mortality.” In reality, Reuben had silently fought lung cancer for six years and only relied on a small circle of close friends.

“It was extremely shocking,” says Wolf about Reuben’s death, which happened just a week before they were planned to record one last interview. “I found out that Paul died on Instagram with everyone else.”

Shortly after his passing, Reuben’s assistant with Wolf shared a private recording he had made the day before he died – his final message to the world. “More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be denoted something I wasn’t … a pedophile,” he said. “I somehow wanted to make people understand that my entire career, everything I did and wrote, was based in love.”

During one of their interviews, Reubens told Wolf, “Death is just so final. Being able to get your message at the last minute, or at some point, is incredible.”