Forget about R. Kelly -- Adamo Ruggiero is no longer trapped in the closet! The Canadian actor, who plays already-out teen Marco Del Rossi on Degrassi, has announced that he's gay.

"I think, you know, with what I've done on the show for the last six years, and my place on the show I feel like is coming to an end, and there's a sorta kinda conclusion with Marco, so I thought it was the perfect time to now speak up," he tells Canadian TV channel, CTV (aka the original home of Degrassi). "The thing with Degrassi is, it's not just the role that we're kinda playing, it's not just like, 'We're on TV and [celebrities]' thing -- we've become these role models and spokespeople for these issues and I thought, you know I was learning and I learned and what better way to kind of share my knowledge than right now."

Of his relationship with his character, Adamo says: "It was so interesting because I was growing up at the same exact time my character was growing up, and he was questioning things that I was questioning, and I was just a kid. I'm completely petrified, and you don't really understand and you're not knowing where you fit in or who you are, and my character's asking these exact same questions, but he moved a little bit faster than I did for TV time's sake. I think it really kinda scared me."

Click here to see the entire interview!