{"id":996143,"date":"2026-08-12T14:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/996143\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T14:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:07:15","slug":"how-jon-voight-reacted-to-son-james-haven-coming-out-as-gay-following-estrangement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/996143\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jon Voight reacted to son James Haven coming out as gay following estrangement"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Haven revealed he got a supportive phone call from his father, Jon Voight, after coming out as gay.<\/a><\/p>\n

Haven, 53, explained on Wednesday\u2019s episode of the \u201cAll Out with Jon Dean\u201d podcast<\/a> that the pair had a \u201cmind-blowing\u201d and \u201csurreal\u201d conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI finally pick up the phone after 15 minutes of him trying to call me, and I\u2019m just like, \u2018Hey,’\u201d Haven recalled. \u201cAnd he\u2019s like, \u2018So\u2026\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Ah, here we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Haven (seen here with ex-wife Romi Imbelli) revealed dad Jon Voight\u2019s reaction to him coming out as gay. All Out with Jon Dean<\/p>\n

Haven (pictured above with Voight in 2017) said he got a supportive phone call from his father. Frederick M. Brown<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes, \u2018I finally know who you are\u2019 \u2026 and all of a sudden we had this really nice chat and I was like, \u2018Oh my gosh.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Haven said he \u201cimmediately\u201d called his ex-wife, Romi Imbelli, who also appeared on the podcast, and told her he \u201cdid not expect that phone call\u201d with Voight, 87.<\/p>\n

Imbelli, 44, chimed in that the exes \u2014 who annulled their marriage seven months after their August 2024 wedding<\/a> \u00a0\u2014 were \u201cwaiting for [Voight\u2019s] response\u201d to Haven coming out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been decades. It\u2019s caused a lot of pain to both of us,\u201d the \u201cReal L Word\u201d star said. \u201cSo I\u2019m like, \u2018What is dad going to say?\u2019 And then when he does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voight told Haven (both seen above at a 2014 Golden Globes afterparty) on the call: \u201cI finally know who you are.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

Haven (pictured here with Voight in 2001) added that the duo had a \u201creally nice chat\u201d on the call. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Haven, whose sister is Angelina Jolie<\/a>, explained that the most \u201cpowerful\u201d part of Voight\u2019s response was how \u201caffirming\u201d he sounded on the phone call about his son\u2019s sexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what I was hearing,\u201d the \u201cGia\u201d star said. \u201cHe kept talking about it, like, \u2018Now I understand why you\u2019ve been so private.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Haven also said Voight told him that he could finally \u201cunderstand\u201d Haven\u2019s \u201centire behavior.\u201d <\/p>\n

Haven (seen here with sister Angelina Jolie in 1994) confirmed Voight sounded \u201caffirming\u201d on their phone call. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Voight (seen above with Jolie and Haven) also told Haven he understood why his son has \u201cbeen so private.\u201d WireImage<\/p>\n

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Later in the podcast, Haven opened up about the dark days of the father-son duo\u2019s relationship, confirming they \u201cdidn\u2019t talk for six years\u201d because he felt \u201ca lack of value\u201d from the Oscar winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy upbringing was very difficult, and we\u2019ve come a long way,\u201d Haven shared. \u201cThe biggest issue I dealt with in my relationship with him for the longest time was a value issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Haven said they recently made up over an hour-long dinner where Voight owned his mistakes. <\/p>\n

Page Six has reached out to Voight\u2019s rep for comment.<\/p>\n

Haven (seen here with Voight in 2010) also opened up about how the pair didn\u2019t speak for six years. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Haven (pictured above with Voight and Jolie) said the father-son duo recently made up over an hour-long dinner. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Haven came out as gay during a live video stream<\/a>\u00a0last Thursday.<\/p>\n

The \u201cOriginal Sin\u201d actor told fans that coming out of the closet \u201cisn\u2019t about becoming someone new,\u201d but rather \u201callowing everyone else to meet the person who has been here all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also expressed hope that his \u201cfamily and others can choose love over fear, understanding over judgment, and connection over the beliefs that may have kept us apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy upbringing was very difficult, and we\u2019ve come a long way,\u201d Haven (seen above in 2017) said on the podcast. Vivien Killilea<\/p>\n

Haven came out as gay on a video live stream with Imbelli (both pictured above) by his side. Instagram\/@romi_hairandbeauty<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they can look beyond the labels and simply see me with the same heart, the same laugh, the same soul they\u2019ve always known,\u201d Haven added.<\/p>\n

Imbelli said on the live stream that Haven will always be \u201cher life partner\u201d despite him coming out.<\/p>\n

Page Six also broke the news that Haven is launching a weekly podcast, titled \u201cSafe Haven with James Haven,\u201d where he will \u201cguide guests through the moments, choices, and turning points that shaped who they became.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Haven revealed he got a supportive phone call from his father, Jon Voight, after coming out as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":996144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[42125,185,9477,1857,172,171,34180,125348,8724,53,9475,173,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-996143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-angelina-jolie","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-children","tag-celebrity-families","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-gay","tag-jon-voight","tag-lgbtqia","tag-movies","tag-parents","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117082931107359590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}