James Haven, the filmmaker and retired actor who is Angelina Jolie's older brother, has come out as gay at 53. He shared the news during a live conversation on the Substack of his ex-wife and close friend, Romi Imbelli, reading a letter that traced his identity back to childhood.
A Letter, Not a Statement
Haven's coming out didn't arrive through a press release or a red-carpet interview. It came as a personal letter, read in real time, on a small independent platform run by someone he clearly trusts. He recalled sneaking glitter onto his cheeks as a boy and swiping on mascara, writing that "for those moments, I felt like magic," even though he "didn't have the language back then to explain why."
That little boy with glitter on his face and mascara on his lashes was never confused, broken, or something to be ashamed of. He was simply gay.
James Haven
A Private Man in a Very Public Family
Haven has spent decades adjacent to one of Hollywood's most photographed families without courting that spotlight himself. He studied filmmaking at USC, has worked behind the camera on documentaries and shorts, and helps run Artivist, a Los Angeles festival centered on human rights and environmental storytelling. He's also been a quiet source of support for his sister through some of her most publicly scrutinized moments, including her split from Brad Pitt.
The Bigger Picture
Coming out at 53, after a lifetime of managing a public identity shaped by someone else's fame, isn't unusual among older LGBTQ+ people who grew up with fewer models for who they could be. Haven's brief 2024 marriage to Imbelli, which ended days after it began but preserved their friendship, now reads less like a footnote and more like part of the same story. Imbelli's own tribute to him made that plain.
I wasn't here to out someone I love. I was here to help set someone free. In return, he set me free.
Romi Imbelli
That's the part worth sitting with: coming out is rarely a single tidy announcement. It's often years of quiet work, made visible by people willing to hold space for it.
Cover photo: Marcus Aurelius / Pexels
