Nathan Lane has said that Robin Williams helped to “protect” him when he was deliberating whether to publicly come out as gay in the 1990s.

The star stage and screen actor starred alongside Williams in the 1996 film The Birdcage, where they played a gay couple. At the time, he chose to keep his sexuality private, before officially coming out in 1999.

And now Lane has used an acceptance speech at the Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television event to discuss the support he received from his friend and co-star.

“I had expressed my fears beforehand to the late, great Robin Williams,” he said. “He kindly said to me, ‘Don’t worry, Nathan, you don’t have to discuss it if you’re not ready’.”

“And he went on to protect me whenever he could, throughout the awkward moments,” he added.

Lane has spoken before about confiding in Williams, particularly around the time of The Birdcage.

Speaking about an interview with Oprah Winfrey at that time, Lane said: “I don’t think Oprah was trying to out me. I said to Robin beforehand, ‘I’m not prepared. I’m so scared of going out there and talking to Oprah. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television. I’m not ready.’”

Lane explained that the interview ended up veering in that direction, though Williams came to his aid and managed to change the subject.

“She was like, ‘How come you’re so good at that girlie stuff? Are you worried about being typecast?’” the actor said. “And then Robin sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah, goes off on a tangent and protects me because he was a saint.”

Lane went on to describe Williams as “just the greatest person”, calling him “a beautiful, sensitive soul and so kind and generous to me.”

In other Williams news, Joe Rogan recently accused him of “material theft”, or stealing jokes from other comedians.

“I think (Robin) wanted to kill more than he wanted to be ethical at any cost,” Rogan said. “Part of that manic sort of style is this constant need to have a bit about anything that you’re talking about ever. Killing was more important; filling that hole inside of him was more important than anything.”

It also recently emerged that Williams wrote a letter to the school of one of the child stars of Mrs. Doubtfire to try to get her expulsion overturned.

Lisa Jakub, who played the elder daughter Lydia in the 1993 comedy-drama, had been informed by her high school that she was no longer welcome after taking time off to star in the film, when Williams took it upon himself to try to help.

“We were a couple of months into filming, and my school in Canada sent a note saying: ‘This isn’t working for us anymore, don’t come back.’ Yeah, 9th grade. I was devastated. It was just so heartbreaking, because I had this life that was very unusual, and that was the one normal thing.”

“The amazing thing was Robin saw that I was upset — he asked me what was going on,” she continued. “He wrote a letter to my principal saying that he wanted them to rethink this decision and that I was just trying to pursue my education and career at the same time, and could they please support me in this. The principal got the letter, framed the letter, put it up in the office, and didn’t ask me to come back. Amazing.”