Lukas Gage is no stranger to attention.
After playing a small but memorable role on the first season of “Euphoria,” the actor delivered his breakout performance on the first season of “The White Lotus,” during which Murray Bartlett’s character was famously caught, well, eating his ass. From there, he’s appeared in a slew of big projects like “You” and Benito Skinner’s “Overcompensating.” Regardless of where he pops up, Lukas is sure to make a lasting impression.
For as much as we’re used to seeing Lukas pop up on screen, though, we aren’t as well acquainted with his life off screen—particularly his backstory. Yes, there was that ill-fated marriage to the Kardashians’ go-to hairstylist Chris Appleton that was documented on their Hulu show, and there was a lot of (perhaps undue) attention paid to how he identifies in terms of his sexuality towards the beginning of his time in the spotlight. But, other than that, there’s a lot for Lukas to tell us.
As it turns out, there’s a lot to catch us up on, which is why he’s written a memoir at the age of 30, which focuses heavily on the oftentimes tumultuous years before he became famous. And, perhaps knowing that this book and the stories within in would bring him extra attention while he promoted it, Lukas is also bringing awareness around PrEP and sexual health at the same time.
We caught up with Lukas Gage to chat about what he likes to do in New York, his book, Britney Spears, “Overcompensating,” and more.
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SO.GAY: You’re in New York doing press for your book, I Wrote This For Attention and for your HealthySexuals.com campaign. What do you do during your time off when you’re in New York?
Lukas Gage: I get a lot of foot massages in Chinatown. That’s my thing. I’m filming a movie out here, too, and I’m writing another screenplay—not book. [Laughs] Don’t worry, I promise I’ll give people a break from a book for a long time. So when I’m not doing that, my body hurts! So I just need to be massaged after hours on my feet.
SO.GAY: Well, my next question was what’s your favorite place to hang out when you’re here, but I guess your favorite place to hang out is at the foot massage parlor.
Lukas: Well, besides that, I actually just like to get lost. I would say I mostly hang out in the East Village, West Village, maybe a little bit of Williamsburg. I don’t know. I lived here for a year in 2022, and I still don’t know where anything is or what to do. So I’m usually just wandering and mostly with other people.
SO.GAY: Well, that’s the best way to see the city, so you’re doing it right. We alluded to your book, I Wrote This For Attention—and you’re also using this moment with added attention on you to bring awareness to something bigger than yourself. Tell me about that and why it’s important to you.
Lukas: Yeah, I think it was important for me to do this because having open conversations and being responsible sexually is important to me. And I feel like there’s also a misconception about being on PrEP; people think that means that you’re reckless. And for me, I think it’s the opposite. I think it means that we’re careful and not careless. I truly think knowledge is power, and if I can spread awareness or get the word out and help people—in a place that is not New York and LA, where they don’t have as many resources—get that information? That’s incredible to me.
SO.GAY: There’s a chapter in your book called “u don’t know my alphabet,” which was the reply that you gave to somebody who was sort of accusing you of queer-baiting, because you hadn’t come out and labeled yourself publicly yet. And I feel like this partnership that you’re doing—and I don’t want to put words in your mouth—must feel pretty emboldening or empowering in some way, where you can be like, “Not only am I queer, but was I never queerbaiting anybody, and I’m using my platform to empower the community and to raise awareness for something really important.” You know what I mean? You’ve totally flipped that whole narrative on its head.
Lukas: Someone needs to find that troll online and send them to Lukas.HealthySexuals.com. [Laughs] No, but I do think it is empowering, and I think it there’s an element to of giving back and sharing what I’ve learned. I said it’s to give people that don’t have that information guidance, but it’s also about owning myself and not being shameful about talking about it, not having shame about being on it and letting other people know that. That’s what it should be about, and I want people to be empowered with their choices, as well.
SO.GAY You spoke about your love of Britney Spears from a young age in the book. That’s the same for me and probably a lot of other gay people reading this.
Lukas: It’s universal.
SO.GAY: Can you put into words a specific memory that you know you were listening to Brittany during or like what it meant to listen to her early on? What are your favorite songs by her?
Lukas: I remember going to Barnes & Noble with my mom and me hiding behind the counter and making her buy the Britney Spears CD for me, and just playing it on repeat boom box style in the bathtub, writing in my journal, listening and singing to “Lucky” and having my brother and his band mates outside the door absolutely annihilating me and making fun of me. But I stood behind her. I stood behind Brittany. I’ve been saying it before Jeffrey Crocker, you know, “Leave Britney alone!” I was ahead of my time. But, yeah, I think it’s a universal thing. Even Benito using that song on “Overcompensating”— he opens the show with that song! There is something about that song that was so formative for queer children of our generation. I think it hit something in us viscerally.
SO.GAY: Oh, that opening scene set to “Lucky” gave me full-body chills. It almost felt like watching someone live my dream, in a way, to tell that kind of story to that song.
Lukas: There’s also something about that song “Lucky,” too, that’s about living a double life, and about having the mask on, where inside you feel lonely and alone and so different from everyone else, but on the outside you’re living a glamorous existence. I think there’s something specifically about queer people that can connect that song on a deeper level.
SO.GAY: You mentioned “Overcompensating,” an overtly queer project that you were just in the first season of. Was there something about the show that you particularly related to? How did it feel being part of telling those stories?
Lukas: For me specifically, the one episode I’m in, where he goes back to the town that he grew up in, and everyone’s seeing each other. And I think that’s such a…I remember going back to my hometown, and everyone went to that the local dive bar, and we’re all seeing each other and checking in about where we are in our life, and we’re trying to present this version of ourselves that we want people to see and want to come across like we have everything together, and we’re killing it and or hiding elements of ourselves. And I can totally relate to that aspect of it and saw areas of myself, where I was hiding or in denial, or just trying to perform this idea of who I was or who I used to be to the people that I’d known my whole life. But you change and you grow, and I think that’s part of why the show hit so hard.
SO.GAY: Last question for you, Lukas: We’re chatting for SO.GAY, so I want to know: What is so gay about you?
Lukas: Everything. I love reality TV. I love pop music. I have sex with men. No, but actually my friend Phoebe has a very funny joke with me. She says, “The gayest thing about you is that you have sex with men,” because she thinks I’m really stinky and just, like, bro-y and makes fun of me for that.
