Coming Out on Top

Billy Flanigan rode miles and sharedsmiles to make the world a better place.Now a documentary is going beyond his#flanigrams to tell his entire story.

BY MELISSA-MARIE MARKS

CALLED TO SERVE

During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Billy Flanigan, like thousands of other so-called “non-essential workers” in the United States, was temporarily sent home from his 40-year career as a performer at Disney.

Luckily for Flanigan, Disney continued to pay his full salary for the five weeks he was out of work. The money was much appreciated, but it wasn’t enough to fill the empty space in Flanigan’s heart—the space usually filled with smiles, hugs, and laughter. The space reserved for human connection.

Flanigan wasn’t the only one feeling the weight of social isolation. A friend and fellow Disney performer shared that she, too, was struggling with loneliness and uncertainty about when she would be allowed to return to work. Her young son didn’t understand why he couldn’t go out as much as usual, and why he and others needed to wear face masks when they came into contact with people. Flanigan decided to alter his normal bike route and visit his friend in hopes of cheering her up. Why? Because making people smile is his life’s mission.

“In 1982, I saw ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ and Dolly Parton said that if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours,” says Flanigan. “That’s been my motto ever since.”

When Flanigan arrived at his friend’s doorstep, she immediately started crying.

“I stayed and chatted for a long time. I met her son and talked to him, too. It was so heartwarming for me. So fulfilling.”

Flanigan knew he was on to something. Something big. Something essential.

“I started out by riding my bike around Florida to visit my fellow cast members from the “Finding Nemo” musical. And then I began visiting the technicians and other people I had worked with at Disney.”

Whenever he’d ride his bike to visit someone, Flanigan would often perform for them in the front yard, singing about how many miles he rode to get there, all in hopes of spreading a little joy and cheer. Friends began to take photos and videos of Flanigan’s visits and share them to Instagram. Someone created the hashtag #flanigram and word began to spread. Friends of family, family of friends, and eventually acquaintances and strangers began asking to be “flanigram’d.”

“And then one day the entire “Finding Nemo” musical cast was on a Zoom call and one of the performers, who now lives in California and is an actress on “Blue Bloods,” asked if anyone knew of any companies that could get her car from Florida to California. And I said, ‘Well, I could just drive it to you.”

So Flanigan put his bike on the back of his friend’s car and drove across the country, stopping in every state along the way to ride his bike at least 20 miles and #flanigram those in need of a smile. Sometimes he’d sleep in hotels. Sometimes he’d sleep in his car. Visits were outdoors and socially distanced to keep everyone safe during the pandemic. Riding up mountains and down into valleys, Flanigan pedaled his way across Texas, Arizona, California, and then after flying back to Florida, he journeyed up to Massachusetts to #flanigram his family.

“On my way back, I visited the people I missed on my way up, the people who said, ‘Hey, you visited someone right by me! I want a visit, too!’ And it was around that time that I got a message from “People Magazine” and another from “Good Morning America,” then messages from friends who had heard my story on the radio. And then, somebody reached out and asked if I’d be interested in starring in a documentary. The producer happened to live in Atlanta, so I got his address and biked to his house and knocked on his door, and he had no idea who I was. So, I did my [#flanigram] thing and told him who I was, and I met his family and they were hooked.”

Originally, the documentary was set to be a short feel-good story about Flanigan’s #flanigrams. “But after meeting me and talking to me and hearing about my career at Disney and my coming out story, they decided to do a whole feature on me. It’s called ‘Billy Flanigan: The Happiest Man on Earth.’ And they said that they wanted to use the story to help and support closeted homosexuals and people and kids who were bullied. So, they ended up doing that, and they really did a beautiful job telling the story without hurting my family, without hurting my ex-wife.”

AN AUTHENTIC LIFE

Before coming out, Billy Flanigan had been happily married for 30 years.

“I knew I was different when I was just five years old. I didn’t necessarily know back then that I was a homosexual, but I knew that I had different feelings than my siblings. And I was very apologetic from such a young age, trying to hide everything and pray it away. And I struggled because I really wanted to be a husband and a father.”

Flanigan never met a girl that he thought he could be in a romantic relationship with until he met Karen.

“We met and flirted, and I really fell in love with her. We had such an amazing friendship and relationship, and years of children and busy-ness and work, and that was my life. Our marriage was real, we had four kids. I love her. I truly, truly loved her. But I always had that underlying feeling, always thinking, you know, that I’m still attracted to men. I wasn’t being authentic and true to who I was. And it wasn’t fair to her.”

But during his marriage, Flanigan didn’t want to be attracted to men. He was raised Catholic and was taught that homosexuality was a sin.

“But I also knew that God makes no imperfect people. I’m this way for a reason, not because I chose to be this way.”

So Flanigan made the decision to come out publicly.

“When I left Karen, she went into a deep, deep depression. She really thought she was not going to be able to survive.”

And for eight years following their divorce, Flanigan felt the full weight of his decision to come out. It was clear that there was still sadness surrounding the divorce.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic came along and changed everything.

“My daughter is a Type 1 diabetic and was living with me at the time. It was just she and I, and then Karen started coming over. She was the only one we allowed inside. We’d have meals together and watch movies together. We really reconnected and got to just be silly and chat about things and look at pictures and shared memories. It all became very normal. She became my emergency contact again. And she knew that I still loved her.”

GRATITUDE EVERY DAY

Flanigan says that if he had to live his life over again, he wouldn’t change a single thing. “I am so, so abundantly blessed. I have healthy kids and grandkids now. I have so much, how can I not be the happiest man on earth? I have such an incredible life. I love what I do! I’m celebrating 40 consecutive years as a Disney performer—I’m the only one who’s ever had 40 consecutive contracts in a row.”

When asked if he’s got any advice for those wishing to choose happiness in today’s uncertain world, Flanigan shares two gems.

“The first is to love the person you’re looking at in the mirror every day. Take responsibility and have remorse for the bad things that you do in life. Learn from it. And be proud of how you came through it.”

“The second thing is to listen. When you pray for something, or ask the universe for something, listen. Listen because messages are coming at you from every direction. It could be on a radio show or a motivational quote on your phone. A lot of these things just come to me at the perfect time. Once, when I was going through a very hard time, I asked a question because I was feeling like I was never going to be enough, and I got this motivational message on my phone that literally said ‘You are enough.’ And I just put my phone down and thought, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I made it the background on my phone so I can remind myself.”

LOVE WHAT YOU DO AND DO WHAT YOU LOVE

Will Billy Flanigan retire from performing any time soon? Not yet. He says he’s just not ready. “I just love performing. There’s nothing like going out there, you know? And people say, how do you do the same show five times a day? And I say, because there’s always somebody different in the audience. Like the old saying goes, ‘Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’”

Credits

“The inspiring journey of Walt Disney World legend, Billy Flanigan, from his daunted childhood to a life free of fear, shame, and secrets, all while brightening lives — one Flanigram at a time.”

Director: Cullen Douglas

Writer: Cullen Douglas Executive

Producer: Randy Goodwin

Production Company: 12th Angel Productions

Expected 2022