section_path: Personal life
section_name: Personal life
paragraph_text: Personal life
  
  Reubens never married or had children. In interviews conducted for the documentary Pee-wee as Himself (2025), which premiered after Reubens's death, he publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was gay. Reubens described a live-in relationship he had in the 1970s with a fellow CalArts student named Guy Brown, whom he credited with inspiring some of Pee-wee Herman's mannerisms. After the relationship ended, Reubens visited Brown in the hospital just hours before he died of an AIDS -related illness. Following that relationship, Reubens stated that he made a conscious decision to focus on his career, and never entered into another serious relationship except at the very end of his life. He was highly secretive about his sexuality for much of his lifetime: "I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet. I wasn't pursuing the Paul Reubens career; I was pursuing the Pee-wee Herman career. I was secretive about my sexuality even to my friends self-hatred or self-preservation. I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated."
  
  Reubens maintained several platonic friendships with women, including some of his co-stars, some of which were incorrectly reported in the media as romantic. He attended the 1988 Academy Awards with Big Top Pee-wee co-star Valeria Golino, which stirred rumors that the two were dating. The following year, Reubens exchanged vows with Doris Duke 's adopted daughter, Chandi Heffner, at a mock wedding over which Imelda Marcos presided, held at Shangri-La, Doris Duke's mansion in Honolulu, Hawaii. Reubens also reportedly "dated" actress Debi Mazar in 1993 after he began attending film premieres with her. He credited Mazar with helping him recover from the depression caused by his 1991 arrest. According to Mazar, their relationship was platonic yet inseparable: "We were best friends, and the truth of the matter is, basically, we had a love affair that was just cerebral." Reubens and his co-star Lynne Marie Stewart remained close, platonic friends until the end of his life. They were active with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, making appearances in character to bring joy to terminally ill children.
  
  Reubens never married or had children. In interviews conducted for the documentary Pee-wee as Himself (2025), which premiered after Reubens's death, he publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was gay. Reubens described a live-in relationship he had in the 1970s with a fellow CalArts student named Guy Brown, whom he credited with inspiring some of Pee-wee Herman's mannerisms. After the relationship ended, Reubens visited Brown in the hospital just hours before he died of an AIDS -related illness. Following that relationship, Reubens stated that he made a conscious decision to focus on his career, and never entered into another serious relationship except at the very end of his life. He was highly secretive about his sexuality for much of his lifetime: "I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet. I wasn't pursuing the Paul Reubens career; I was pursuing the Pee-wee Herman career. I was secretive about my sexuality even to my friends self-hatred or self-preservation. I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated."
  
  Reubens maintained several platonic friendships with women, including some of his co-stars, some of which were incorrectly reported in the media as romantic. He attended the 1988 Academy Awards with Big Top Pee-wee co-star Valeria Golino, which stirred rumors that the two were dating. The following year, Reubens exchanged vows with Doris Duke 's adopted daughter, Chandi Heffner, at a mock wedding over which Imelda Marcos presided, held at Shangri-La, Doris Duke's mansion in Honolulu, Hawaii. Reubens also reportedly "dated" actress Debi Mazar in 1993 after he began attending film premieres with her. He credited Mazar with helping him recover from the depression caused by his 1991 arrest. According to Mazar, their relationship was platonic yet inseparable: "We were best friends, and the truth of the matter is, basically, we had a love affair that was just cerebral." Reubens and his co-star Lynne Marie Stewart remained close, platonic friends until the end of his life. They were active with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, making appearances in character to bring joy to terminally ill children.