NEIL PATRICK HARRIS GOES NAKED FOR ROLLING STONE

Openly gay American actor Neil Patrick Harris has posed in his birthday suit for the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

Harris, 40, appears naked on the cover, wearing nothing but a bow tie and with a top hat covering his crotch (leading us to wonder what’s actually holding it up).

In an interview, Harris tells Rolling Stone that his coming out as gay in 2006 surprisingly actually helped his career.

“Once all the cards were on the table, I got more opportunities than ever,” he said. “Some actors don’t get hired because you can’t look into their soul and see what they’re like, because they’re kept guarded.”

The star, who is best known as the much-loved character Barney Stinson in the recently ended sitcom How I Met Your Mother, lost weight for his titular transsexual role in the Broadway production of the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Harris’ fiancé David Burtka spoke to the magazine about his partner’s new, much thinner body, commenting: “He’s so skinny, and I think that really gives him power. His body is crazy right now.”

The two men have been dating since 2004 and are raising twins, a boy and a girl.