James Haven has come out as gay in a livestream alongside his former wife and longtime friend, Romi Marie Imbelli. The 53-year-old actor, who is the brother of Angelina Jolie and son of Jon Voight, read a personal letter about his sexuality through Imbelli’s Substack.
“I’m gay,” Haven said. He then described being fascinated by Disney princesses as a child and secretly putting glitter on his cheeks and mascara on his eyelashes.
“For those moments, I felt like magic,” he said, explaining that he did not yet have the words to understand why those small acts made him feel more like himself.
What James Haven said about his childhood
Haven said those childhood experiences were not about performing as someone else, but allowing an existing part of himself to be visible.
“It was about letting a part of myself shine that had always been there,” he wrote.
As he grew older, Haven began to wonder whether he needed to conceal that side of himself to be accepted by the “normal” boys around him. He connected that uncertainty to an experience familiar to many LGBTQ+ children, who can learn to doubt themselves well before they are given the language or support to understand who they are.
“Like so many gay kids, I learned to question parts of myself long before I learned to celebrate them,” he said.
Haven also framed coming out not as a reinvention, but as an honest introduction.
“Coming out isn’t about becoming someone new, it’s about allowing everyone else to meet the person who has been here all along,” he said.
He expressed hope that his family and others would respond with love, understanding and connection rather than fear or judgment. “I hope they can look beyond the labels and simply see me with the same heart, the same laugh, the same soul they’ve always known.”
Why Romi Marie Imbelli joined the announcement
The letter was jointly signed by Haven and Imbelli, reflecting the unusually close relationship they have maintained following the end of their brief marriage.
“This story was never just mine. It was ours,” they wrote.
Haven and Imbelli had been friends for 23 years before marrying in an intimate ceremony in Laguna Beach, California, in 2024. Imbelli, a television personality and makeup artist, filed for an annulment 15 days later. Angelina Jolie did not attend the wedding.
Despite the marriage ending almost immediately, Haven and Imbelli remained close. In the letter, she stressed that she had not pressured him into disclosing his sexuality.
“I wasn’t here to out someone I love. I was here to help set someone free. There is a difference. In return he set me free,” the statement read.
The pair said forgiveness, grace and unconditional love had helped them reach this point. They also asked readers to extend compassion to Haven as he begins living openly “exactly as God made him.” It is a deeply personal transition made in public, because celebrity families rarely get the luxury of quiet paperwork.
How their relationship changed after marriage
Haven and Imbelli described their bond as one that had changed form rather than disappeared. Their statement acknowledged the emotional difficulty of letting go of the future they had once imagined while accepting the reality of their relationship.
“Love doesn’t always fit into the boxes we’re taught it should,” they wrote. “Sometimes it transforms. Sometimes it changes shape. Sometimes it asks us to let go of what we imagined so we can embrace what is true.”
Imbelli said she would continue to regard Haven as family, her best friend and one of the most important loves of her life, even though she would no longer be his wife.
Haven has previously appeared on screen alongside Jolie, including in Gia in 1998 and Original Sin in 2001. The siblings have also drawn public attention for their closeness, including a widely photographed kiss on the red carpet.
This announcement, however, was less about an old celebrity image than about Haven defining himself in his own words. By appearing with Imbelli, he also made clear that the end of their marriage did not erase the affection or history between them. Their relationship has changed, but neither presented that change as a failure.
