Ian McKellen, 86, on Life Without Children

has got candid about whether he regrets not having children, as the actor emphasised that biology was not a requisite for kinship.

The Lord of the Rings star, 86, famously came out as gay aged 48 during a  radio interview in 1988, and was one of the founding members of the inspirational LGBTQ+ rights charity, .

And while he's openly insisted he has no desire to get hitched, in a new interview with Attitude Magazine, Ian admitted that he does wish that he'd had children. 

However, he said that despite not being a biological father, he has close parental bonds with several young people in his life and stressed that them not being blood related doesn't change the fact that they are his family.

When asked if he had any regrets about having kids, he said: 'I used to say the only advantage of being gay was that you didn't have to get married. 

'And starting Stonewall - it was never our intention to lobby on behalf of gay marriage. We didn't think it was necessary, and some people thought it was absolutely not and that the whole point of proselytizing about being gay was to challenge the whole idea of marriage and everything else.'

'Do I now wish I had children? Well I do,' he confessed, but went on: 'I've got young people who I'm allowed to criticise and befriend and love.'

'So they don't need to come from your loins for you to feel they're family. And I'm part of a very large family.'

The X-Men star also teased his upcoming reprisal of his most famous role, with him set to return as Gandalf in a new live-action Lord of the Rings movie.

The highly-anticipated film has been given the working title The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, with shooting set to begin this month in New Zealand ready for a scheduled release date of December 17, 2027.

Speaking about portraying the iconic wizard, Ian said: ' One of the great joys of having played Gandalf is that walking down the street, quite small people run up to you and want to shake your hand because they can't believe they've met Gandalf.

'I sometimes say, "Well look I'm not Gandalf". And they understand, as I used to understand that when I went to see Santa Claus in the big shop, that wasn't the real Santa Claus. And I'm not the real Gandalf - the real Gandalf is still in Middle Earth.'

'I'm going to join him, actually, quite soon,' he teased. 'Make his acquaintance again in the new Middle Earth film.'

Ian has said that coming out as gay made him a better actor, as well as improve his relationships with his family and life overall.

'Almost overnight everything in my life changed for the better - my relationships with people and my whole attitude toward acting changed,' he told Variety in 2023.

While the Tony Award winner explained to Pink News that his acting abilities vastly advanced because he wasn't 'hiding anymore'.

'I never stopped talking about [coming out] since,' he said. 'Made up for lost time. It changes your life utterly… I discovered myself. And everything was better. 

'My relationships with my family, with friends, with strangers, and my work got better as I wasn't hiding anymore. 

'Up to that point, my acting had really been about disguise and then when I could feel I was myself, it came about telling the truth, which was much more interesting.'

While he recently expressed his sorrow for celebrities who feel they cannot come out, describing being closeted as 'silly.'

Encouraging young, closeted actors to listen to their hearts and be their authentic selves, Ian said: 'I have never met anybody who came out who regretted it. I feel sorry for any famous person who feels they can't come out.

'Being in the closet is silly — there's no need for it.  Don't listen to your advisers, listen to your heart. Listen to your gay friends who know better. Come out. Get into the sunshine.'

It comes after Ian claimed convicted rapist  prevented him from becoming the first openly gay man to win the Best Actor Oscar, by finagling the votes at the 1999 Academy Awards.

He has been nominated twice - including for playing Gandalf in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - and recently said that Weinstein dashed his hopes of winning for his performance in period drama Gods and Monsters.

The Best Actor gong was ultimately won by Roberto Benigni for his leading role in Life is Beautiful, which was created by Weinstein's production company, Miramax. 

And Ian said the film producer had 'all sorts of ways' of promoting his movies during awards season to ensure they won the prestigious prizes.

Speaking in November, he recalled: 'Gods and Monsters was a breakthrough and I was embraced by that side of the industry. I received an Oscar nomination. But did not receive an Oscar. 

'And I had a note in my pocket for years later saying "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to be the first openly gay actor to receive this award." Well, I had to put it back in my pocket.'

He went on: 'And what's that man who's in prison now? Harvey Weinstein. He was a very successful film producer and had all sorts of ways in promoting his movies. And he was very busy come awards season time, making sure that it was his films that won the awards. 

'The year I was nominated and I think was the front runner for a few weeks before the actual ceremony. I didn't win the award. It went to Roberto Benigni.

'He won the award and it was a film, this is the point, that Harvey Weinstein had produced. About five or six years later, we met at some other event and he said, "Oh, I do apologise for stealing the Oscar from you".'

Weinstein has long-held a reputation for 'rigging' awards by treating film campaigns like political ones, through negative campaigning, pressuring voters, relentless lobbying and pushing the idea that a win could be 'bought'.

The year that Ian lost out is famously the same year that Shakespeare in Love won  Best Picture - an upset that has widely been attributed to Weinstein's aggressive tactics, including trash-talking the expected winning film, Saving Private Ryan.

Once a Hollywood heavy-hitter, Weinstein fell into disgrace in 2017, after 's bombshell New Yorker expose revealed a number of sexual misconduct allegations against him, sparking the MeToo movement.

In total, some 60 women came forward with harrowing allegations against the producer and he was convicted of various sex crimes in both New York and California.

While his New York conviction was , the jury did find him guilty; a re-trial found him guilty of one count of sexual assault. 

His California conviction stands, and he is currently serving a 16-year sentence, while he is also in the midst of his third Manhattan trial to resolve a remaining rape charge from his 2025 New York retrial.