Danny Roberts and Paul Dill’s was a TV relationship half of which was obscured by a blurred oval meant to block identity. On The Real World, a show meant to reveal the inner workings of relationships, the concealed identity merely exposed the U.S. military’s sad policy of discrimination against gays.
In the latest issue of The Advocate, Danny Roberts, the Real World: New Orleans cast member whose love affair with Army captain Paul Dill remained achingly private throughout the show’s season, tells Jon Barrett the pair’s seven-year relationship has ended.
When the Real World finished, Roberts moved to North Carolina to live with Dill, who would be in the military for another two years. Unfortunately, Roberts said that moving in with Dill in secrecy was the beginning of the relationship’s ‘undoing’: “We could not live our lives. We could not be a normal couple. We lived in so much fear. We were forced to live underground.”
Roberts said that by the time Dill got out of the military, too much damage to the relationship had already been done. Dill’s identity was blurred during the show, but he later made an appearance on MTV in an interview with John Norris.
Thanks to Towleroad correspondent Alan L., we have the rare clip. Enjoy. And let’s hope that with a new Congress perhaps we can move forward on getting this discriminatory policy changed.
