Everett told the Sunday Times Magazine that although his mother Sara had met his boyfriend, she "still wishes I had a wife and kids."

"She thinks children need a father and a mother and I agree with her," he said, according to the UK's Telegraph newspaper.

"I can't think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads."

Everett was once a trailblazer for gay actors after he came out as a homosexual 20 years ago. He went on to star in Shakespeare in Love, My Best Friend's Wedding and The Next Best Thing.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, told the Daily Mail, "Rupert should get out a little bit more to see the facts for himself. There is absolutely no evidence that the kids of gay parents suffer in the way they are being brought up or in how they develop."

The interview also included comments from Everett's mother who said she wished her son was not a homosexual.

According to the Daily Mail she said, "In the past I have said that I wish Rupert was straight and I probably still feel that ... I'd like him to have children. He's so good with children. He'd make a wonderful father. But I also think a child needs a mummy and a daddy."

"I've told him that and he takes it very well," she added.

According to CNN, Everett reportedly told The Observer in 2009 that he wished he hadn't come out because it had hurt his career.

"The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business," Everett said.

"It just doesn't work and you're going to hit a brick wall at some point. You're going to manage to make it roll for a certain amount of time, but at the first sign of failure they'll cut you right off."

GNE