Hollywood Production Designer Left Gay Lifestyle for God

Hollywood Production Designer Left Gay Lifestyle for God

Movieguide® Contributor

Former Hollywood production designer Becket Cook recently shared how God transformed his life with a crowd at Liberty University.

Author of “A Change of Affection: A Gay Man’s Incredible Story,” Becket Cook, recently shared how God transformed his life with a crowd at Liberty University.

“So, 15 years ago I was a gay atheist living in Hollywood, and then I had a very unexpected encounter with God, and it changed my life forever, but I’ll start in the beginning,” he explained. “When I was very young at elementary school, I started to realize that I was developing same-sex attraction, and back in the day in the ’80s or ’70s, being gay or homosexuality was very taboo. It’s not like it is today.”

“I grew up in Dallas, Texas, and…I was the youngest of eight kids and according to my family, according to my Catholic school, according to my peers, according to the culture at large, homosexuality was just like a love that dare not speak its name,” the A Change of Affection: A Gay Man’s Incredible Story author said. “So it was very much forbidden. So I had to sort of lead this double life and in elementary school…in seventh and eighth grade, I went steady with girls, but on the inside, I knew I had this deep, dark secret, and things really shifted when I went it when I went off to high school to an all-boys Jesuit school.”

There, he met a sophomore who also had similar feelings, and they became best friends. They regularly began to attend gay bars even though they were young high schoolers. Cook would have “serious” girlfriends throughout high school but was living a double life.

“It wasn’t until after college that homosexuality became my full identity,” Cook said.

Cook’s sister eventually asked him if he identified as gay, he told her, and she told his whole family.

“I remember when I walked into the kitchen that first night. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table,” he recalled. “My mother and I were very close. I walked into the kitchen, and she started crying, and I knew why she was crying, and I said…‘Mom what’s wrong?’ and she said, ‘Well, I heard you’re homosexual,’ and…this was in 1992. So HIV and AIDS was very much of a death sentence at that time. She was terrified, but I just tried to allay her fears, and I said, ‘Mom, don’t worry about me. I’m going to be fine,’ and I said, ‘This is just who I am. It’s not a big deal.’ So that was the last we talked of it.”

Cook soon moved to LA and became a production designer. He was wrapped in the world of glamour, and would often visit extravagant parties and houses like Drew Barrymore’s.

Becket Cook had all the success anyone could want from a Hollywood career…

READ MORE: HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION DESIGNER LEAVES GAY LIFESTYLE FOR CHRIST

Then, one night at a Paris fashion week after party, Cook suddenly felt empty, like his life had no meaning. Six months later, he was in a coffee shop and saw a group of people having a Bible study. He asked them a few questions and began to consider if the lifestyle he was living was wrong.

“They invited me to their church the following Sunday, and I what I was really surprised at was my response to them…I had this flash of like what if God does exist? I mean there’s a slim chance that he does and what if homosexual behavior is a sin and what if I built my entire life on a false foundation and I don’t know if that’s a possibility.”

“So the following Sunday rolls around, and I wake up, and I’m like I guess I’m going to go to this church,” he said. “I’d never been to an Evangelical church. I had no idea what to expect.”

The pastor preached from Romans 7, and Cook resonated with “everything” he said.

“I’m like this is the gospel. This is good news, and I was riveted to the sermon. I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat, and after he finished a sermon, he said there’s another 30 minutes of worship time, and he said there’s people on the side of the auditorium if you want prayer for anything,” he explained. “So that was another moment where I was like, ‘Oh, should I go over there? If I do, people might be watching me. It’s embarrassing.’”

But he mustered up some courage and approached someone who would pray with him.

“His prayer was so full of love and care, and so I went back to my seat, and I sat down. Everyone else was standing and singing for another 25 minutes. I sat down and as soon as I sit, the Holy Spirit just… it’s like Isaiah in the temple when he sees the holiness of God I just came undone and I started bawling and bawling,” he shared.

From then on, Cook’s life transformed. He understood he was in sin and immediately changed his lifestyle.

“I was so euphoric of meeting the king of the universe, Jesus that it was it was just incredible,” he recalled.

“I’ve never looked back and…my old friends would say you know, ‘Isn’t it unfair that you can’t have a partner, have like a boyfriend? Like, I don’t get it…You’re going to be alone for the rest of your life and I’m like ‘First of all, I’m not alone. I’m in a relationship with the king of the universe and it’s the best relationship I’ve ever been in,’” he said.

Now Cook spends his time speaking and sharing his story around the U.S. and sharing other’s stories and experiences on his YouTube channel/podcast, “The Becket Cook Show.”

In an episode on his YouTube Cook explained that his mother prayed privately for him, though she never spoke of it.

“Instead of her trying to berate me, badger me, or bludgeon me into the Kingdom, she just quietly prayed this prayer,” Cook explained on his YouTube channel. “It was a complete miracle that I’ve never got HIV. The fact that God protected me…this is why….because of my mother’s prayer.”