Former TV newsman Mark Pettit tells the real story of his life in front of the camera.
Hark back to Atlanta’s pre-Olympic years: The city is booming with building, newcomers and an envy of-the-world airport. But it’s also home to many who share a common secret: their sexual orientation.
From 1988 to 1991, Mark Pettit was one of those strikingly handsome, ambitious men who hid their personal lives from the public. And Pettit’s was very public: He had his dream job working as an Emmy-award winning news anchor at 11Alive. “They were paying me to tell the truth, but I was living a lie,” he says.
Now 60, Pettit looks back on how his career imploded when he was outed and his contract not renewed. “At the time, my first boyfriend had died of AIDS, and I was so miserable,” he says. “Every success became another bar in my personal prison. The two worlds could not exist together, and it all blew up at once. Even my agent freaked and told me, ‘They don’t put guys like you on the evening news.’ I was 27, and my career was over.”
But his story and career didn’t end. After a 12-month hiatus, Pettit worked for a local public relations firm, started teaching and began coaching companies on how to deal with the media. In 1998, he started his own firm, Creaxion, from the dining room of his Buckhead home, and the venture was strong until he opted to scale back in 2018 to focus on writing and producing films and TV shows. But writing a book wasn’t in the plan.
“I actually wrote a movie script called Ankrboy, based on a license plate I once had, but when I heard it would take $3 to $5 million to make, I decided to write a book,” he says. “Once I got going, my heart and soul poured out. I cried as I wrote it.”
It took just eight months to tell the story. Since hitting the market in February, the book has been well-received by the LGBTQ+ community as well as many who were shocked to learn Pettit’s secret.
“People tell me, ‘I thought everything in your life was peachy; I had no idea of the things you went through,’” he says. “Even people in my hometown of Calhoun in conservative Gordon County are reading it. For the most part, people are telling me they’re glad I did it. I hope it’s changing perspectives.”
The book has also been a key part of Pettit’s healing process. “It’s great when you finally put it out there and don’t care anymore. I call it the ‘F it all freedom.’”
Now in a solid relationship, Pettit says he’s the happiest he’s been in a long time and hopes his story will be a support for others struggling in their lives.
“We waste time trying to please others by being people we aren’t. I was too young to know how to be myself. But now I tell people: Stay true to yourself. I hope this book helps others find their way and their voice in what can be a difficult journey.”
PHOTO: Erik Meadows
