Neil Patrick Harris comes out!

Neil Patrick Harris is singing a new tune. Harris told People in early November that he was "a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love." That business of late has been playing the riotous Barney on the hit CBS TV show How I Met Your Mother.

For years, Harris's publicist denied the star was gay. Most recently, when rumors surfaced online that Harris had gotten a role for his boyfriend on How I Met Your Mother, his rep claimed he was "not of that persuasion." Soon after, Harris switched publicists, hiring longtime friend Simon Halls--and came out of the closet. Why now? "I can't speak for what was going through his mind at the time." Halls tells The Advocate. "But Neil is a big boy."

The actor first rose to fame at age 16 when he portrayed the titular pubescent doctor on Doogie Howser, M.D. After the show ended in 1993, Harris snagged a role in the Los Angeles run of Rent and sang opposite Patti LuPone in the TV concert presentation of Sweeney Todd. A tongue-in-cheek guest appearance on Will & Grace in 2000 had him playing an "ex-gay" who eventually backslides.

Harris has proved his ability at portraying horny heteros; he played a straight--and drug-addled--version of himself in the stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. And on How I Met Your Mother, Barney is the ultimate womanizer. CBS has no plans for that to change.