Kal Penn Announces Engagement to Longtime Partner and Promotes Memoir

Kal Penn publicly opened up about his sexuality for the first time in a new interview with People, revealing that he’s engaged to his partner of 11 years.

“I discovered my own sexuality relatively late in life compared to many other people,” the Harold and Kumar star told the magazine. “There’s no timeline on this stuff. People figure their shit out at different times in their lives, so I’m glad I did when I did.”

Penn, who’s promoting his new memoir You Can’t Be Serious, spoke with People about his longtime partner, Josh, even sharing details about the couple’s first date.

“I’ve always been very public with everybody I’ve personally interacted with,” the 44-year-old actor explained. “Whether it’s somebody that I meet at a bar, if Josh and I are out or we’re talking to friends. I’m really excited to share our relationship with readers. But Josh, my partner, my parents, and my brother, four people who I’m closest to in the family, are fairly quiet. They don’t love attention and shy away from the limelight.” 

Penn continued, “I thought, ‘This obviously is not going to work out. I have one day off from The White House and this dude is unironically watching cars go around and make left turns? Next thing you know, it’s been a couple months and we’re watching NASCAR every Sunday. I’m like, ‘What is happening?’ I wanted the reader to enjoy the love and the humor through all of those stories.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Penn revealed the couple plans on tying the knot soon. 

“The big disagreement now is whether it’s a huge wedding or a tiny wedding,” he said. “I want the big ass Indian wedding. Josh, hates attention, [has said], ‘Or we could just do quick 20-minute thing with our families and that’s it.’ So we have to meet halfway in the middle.”