Nathan Lane recalls moment he came out to his mother

Nathan Lane has recalled the moment he came out to his mother, and her "devastating" reply.

The Only Murders in the Building star forgave her for how she responded in the moment - by telling him she would prefer he were dead.

Recounting the event on The Howard Stern Show, Nathan, 70, explained he decided he needed to come out to his mother just before he moved to New York to pursue a career in show business.

"I didn't want to tell her, but before I left, we had been through so much together and, you know, I had never lied to her, and so I sat her down and said, 'Look, I know you think I've been seeing a girl, but actually, I've been seeing a guy,'" he revealed.

She said, "'You mean you're a homosexual?'" he continued. "And I had never heard it put that way. And I said, 'Yeah, I guess so.'"

His mother's reaction was immediate.

"She didn't say it in a vindictive or angry way," Nathan recalled. "She said it with a sort of sadness, 'I would rather you were dead.'"

After Howard described the comment as "devastating", Nathan - who went on to star opposite Robin Williams in the 1996 hit comedy movie The Birdcage - said he couldn't carry a grudge over his mother's hot take, explaining she was "not a sophisticated person".

"You have to understand this is another generation," he pointed out. "And that was, you know, this was not a sophisticated person in that way."