Openly gay actress Megan Cavanagh, star of such films as A League of Their Own and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, recently talked to the Bay Area Reporter about her upcoming stint as Madame Arcati in the musical High Spirits. In the process Cavanagh also reveals a bit about her personal belief system.

Ironically, Cavanagh, 48, came out less than 10 years ago. “I knew in my late 20s that I was attracted to women, but I was completely in denial about it,” she said. “I had wanted to be the greatest child ever in my parents’ eyes, and I realized I was OK and didn’t need to do that. There was a lot of therapy, and being in a goddess group really helped. There are a lot of dykes in my goddess group, and every person I wanted to hang out with was a dyke. I thought, hello?” Her experiences in the goddess group are finding their way into her interpretation of Madame Arcati, an eccentric medium who inadvertently summons up the spirit of an English gentleman’s late wife, both to his and his current wife’s considerable consternation, in the musical adaptation of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. “I’m incorporating some of the things we do in our rituals, not things that the audience are going to know, but I’m doing it for me.”

Always nice to encounter another high-profile goddess-worshiper! Here’s hoping Cavanagh inspires other film and television stars to also come out of the “broom closet”. If you happen to be in (or near) the Bay Area, you can catch Cavanagh in High Spirits at the Eureka Theatre March 19-April 12. Cavanagh also stars in the Logo series Exes & Ohs, and the Nickelodeon series The Mighty B!.

Tags: film, goddess, LGBT, Megan Cavanagh, movies, Paganism, play, Television, theatre