Washington DC [US], April 29 (ANI): Terrence Howard was almost onboard for the biopic of legendary R&B singer Marvin Gaye, but backed out at the last minute after discovering the fact that the singer was 'gay', reported Variety.

During a recent appearance on Bill Maher's 'Club Random' podcast, as quoted by Variety, Howard recalled his 'biggest mistake' of his career when he turned down a starring role in a singer Smokey Robinson biopic for Marvin Gaye's biographical movie.

According to Variety, Howard said that he turned Robinson down because he was already in 'conversation with Lee Daniels about playing Marvin Gaye' in a different biopic.

Despite the support from Robinson and others for the biopic of Gaye, the actor eventually passed on the project after he discovered the singer's sexuality from another music great, Quincy Jones, as reported by Variety.

'I was over at Quincy Jones' house and I'm asking Quincy, 'I'm hearing rumours that Marvin was gay' and I'm like, 'Was he gay?'' Howard explained.

'And Quincy's like, 'Yes,'' added Howard, as quoted by Variety.

After that revelation, Howard reportedly decided he 'could not' star in the movie.

'They would've wanted to do that, and I wouldn't have been able to do that,' said Howard on the possibility of portraying a gay man in the movie, quoted Variety.

After Maher asked him if he would ever kiss a guy on screen in a movie, the actor responded,

'No. Because I don't fake it. That would f*** me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off,' said Howard as quoted by Variety.

Bill Maher shared an understanding of the actor's perspective towards the character, but said that he wouldn't go as far as Howard if asked to play a gay character in a movie, as per the outlet.

Howard explained that it was more a matter of committing to the role than anything else. He said that he cannot play a character that he doesn't understand. (ANI)