Link to the n*de photos.

In the 1990s, actors who came out, or who were outed, usually ended their career. Especially teenagers: they had to face casting agents, directors, and showrunners who hated gay people, or who believed that they could not play heterosexuals believably, and there were no gay roles.

Neil Patrick Harris survived by playing homophobic parodies of himself.

Glenn Scarpelli dropped out of acting long before he came out.

Danny Pintauro was not so lucky.

Born in Milltown, New Jersey, near Rutgers University, in 1976, he began acting and modeling at age two, and appeared on screen beginning at age seven in a three-episode story arc as the son of the unscrupulous financier James Stenbeck on the soap As The World Turns,

Next came dramatic turns in Cujo (1983), the adaption of the Stephen King novel about a rabid dog; and The Beniker Gang (1984), about a family of orphans trying to stick together (with Andrew McCarthy as the head Beniker)

In 1984 Danny was cast on Who's the Boss (1984-92) as Jonathan, the sweet, soft preteen son of wealthy businesswoman Angela Bower (Judith Light), who hires a male housekeeper (Tony Danza).

After I moved to West Hollywood, I didn't watch much -- Tony rarely took off his shirt, and in 196 episodes there were only three jokes:

1. A macho straight guy does women's work, har har.

2. Grandma (Katherine Helmond) is interested in men har har.

3. "Will they or won't they?" There is no reason why Tony and Angela couldn't start dating in the second episode, but they resist and resist, while family, friends, and viewers become more and more exasperated. They don't get together until Season 8!

As Danny moved into his teen years, the writers tried to make him absurdly girl crazy, like every other teenage boy on tv at the time, but he was so femme, sashaying and swishing across the stage, that it didn't seem believable, so they gave him weird plotlines like taking up the accordion and stealing a hubcap from a police car. Danny recalls that his costars were supportive, but the showrunners "obviously didn't want me there."

After Who's the Boss ended in 1992, Danny enrolled at Middlesex County College and then Stanford University, planning to become a veterinarian -- until he failed chemistry and changed his major to theater. But in 1997, a National Enquirer photographer caught him kissing a guy, and called him for comment. He thought of denying that it was him, or demanding that they not print the article, but finally he agreed to an interview.

The result was banner-headline controversy. Most of his former costars offered public support (I've read conflicting accounts of Tony Danza's reaction), and fan esponse was generally positive; but everyone agreed that the gay former child star would never appear on TV again.

In a 2003 episode of Will and Grace, Karen Walker steals Danny's wallet, so he tracks her down and attacks -- off camera. They didn't even consider asking him to play himself.

Danny graduated from Stanford in 1998 and moved to New York, where the theater scene was supposedly less homophobic. But no one wanted to cast a former tv...ugh...actor, especially not the subject of a media firestorm -- audiences would be too distracted. He played a hustler who gets involved in a bisexual three way in The Velocity of Gary (2000), and then nothing until the Joan Crawford parody Mommie Querest in 2012. He waited tables, briefly managed a restaurant, and sold Tupperware.

He partied hard, became a drug addict, and had unprotected activity, resulting in HIV seroconversion (diagnosed in 2003).

More after the break.

There are reputedly some n*de photos online, but they don't show his face, so I'm not sure (on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends)

Danny's life began to turn around when he met Wil Tabares at a tupperware party in 2012. The two became boyfriends, and married in 2017. They settled in Austin, Texas, where Danny became a veterinary technician.

He began to move back into acting with Unsure/Positive (2017), the semi-autobiographical story of a milennial (Christian Daniel Kiley) who discovers that he is HIV positive and tries to "stay positive" while fighting misinformation and stereotypes. I can't find it anywhere; the Facebook page fights misinformation without a video.

Danny continues to work for HIV and AIDS awareness. He has won the Courage Award from Whitman Walker Health (with TV Dad Tony Danza as presenter), the My Hero Award from Aid for AIDS, and the Steve Chase Humanitarian Award from from the Desert AIDS Project

Seeing other gay actors playing gay characters regularly on tv, having relationships, even kissing, made Danny think that it might be time for a comeback. In 2020 he starred in The Quarantine Bunch, with former child stars meeting in a Zoom Room during the COVID pandemic to gossip and work on their acting.

A Country Christmas Harmony (2022) is the standard Christmas romcom, with famous singer Chrissy returning to her small town for Hometown Concert and deciding between two hunks (one is Brandon Quinn). But, unusual in 2022, her sassy gay assistant Eugene (Danny) comes along to make zingers with her Grandma, and very unusual in 2022, he gets a plot arc of his own, complete with a boyfriend (Giancarlo Sabogal).

Danny was very busy in 2025:

A celebrity judge on the Hunty Games Drag Show

Starring in Right Before I Go, a play that gives voice to people who have (the Blogger censors won't let me say it)