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6:34pm PDT, Jun 2, 2023
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To mark the beginning of Pride Month — June 2023 — join us as we take a look back at some of the ways celebrities have told the world about their sexual or gender identities in recent years…
“The Last of Us” star Bella Ramsey — who shot to fame as decisive young ruler Lyanna Mormont on HBO’s “Game of Thrones” — opened up about gender identity in January 2023, telling The New York Times that when filling out forms, if “nonbinary” is an option, she’ll tick that box instead of “she” or “he.” “I’m very much just a person,” Bella said. “Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less.” She further explained, “I guess my gender has always been very fluid. Someone would call me ‘she’ or ‘her’ and I wouldn’t think about it. But I knew that if someone called me ‘he,’ it was a bit exciting.”
Keep reading for more stars who’ve identified as members of the LGBTQIA+ community…
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“Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp came out as gay in a TikTok video he shared on Jan. 5, 2023. “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was ‘we know,'” he captioned the clip.
MORE: Stars who have LGBTQIA+ kids
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In December 2020, Elliot Page took to social media to publicly come out as transgender. The “Juno” and “Umbrella Academy” actor revealed he would use the pronouns he/they moving forward. “I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life,” he wrote in part in a lengthy post. “I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. … I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer.”
The announcement came six years after Elliot publicly came out as gay during the 2014 Human Rights Campaign’s Time to Thrive conference benefiting LGBT youth in Las Vegas. “I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility,” they said at the time. “I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission … I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I’m standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain.”
In January 2018, Elliot announced his marriage to dancer-choreographer Emma Portner. In January 2021, they confirmed plans to divorce. In March 2021, Elliot became the first transgender man to appear on the cover of Time magazine. In the cover story, the “Umbrella Academy” star revealed that they underwent top surgery to remove breast tissue. “It has completely transformed my life,” he told Time, adding that it was “not only life-changing but lifesaving.”
MORE: Stars who have LGBTQ parents
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Former “American Idol” finalist Sanjaya Malakar — whom fans will remember as a polarizing contestant during his season 6 run on the show in 2006 — publicly opened up about his sexuality on “The Adam Sank Show” podcast in August 2022. “I identify as bisexual,” Sanjaya said, as reported by People magazine. “At the time [that I was on ‘Idol’], I did not know, which was why it was so weird for me.” The former musician, who now works as a pastry chef and bartender, explained that, “For me, at this point I don’t really care about what people know of my sexuality, and if I got into a serious long-term relationship with a guy I would bring him to my family, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, cool.'” He added, “My family’s not the kind of people I really need to come out to formally.”
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Jena Malone — the former child star who found fame in films like “Contact” and “Stepmom” and went on to work in mainstream franchises like “The Hunger Games” while continuing to make cool indie movies — came out as pansexual on Aug. 19, 2022. “I guess It felt like I was a heterosexual man in a woman’s body. I visualized his desires and placed them on to me. But this was never the whole of the story that was meant for me. So I’ve been learning a new way to tell it. Using words to guide me not define me,” the “Adopting Audrey” star explained on Instagram. “That my sexual identity has more to teach and to tell me. Finding words that feel more right to explore in my telling. Pansexuality. Sapiosexuality. Polyamory. A fuller spectrum of understanding that my story is demanding of me.”
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After tweeting then deleting a big hint about his sexuality in March 2022, ’90s R&B star Tevin Campbell opened up about being a gay man in an August 2022 interview with the “PEOPLE Every Day” podcast. The former child star said he came out to his family and friends when he was 19 or 20 “then I went on the road of discovering myself. I didn’t know who I was,” the “Can We Talk” singer explained, adding that he grew a lot when he stepped away from the music industry and spent six years performing in the Broadway musical “Hairspray” beginning in 2004. “Being around people who were like me, LGBTQ+ people that were living normal lives and had partners. I had never seen that. That was a great time in my life,” he said. On the podcast, Tevin — who earlier in 2022 tweeted, “Tevin is…” followed by a rainbow flag emoji, then took it down — insisted that earlier in his career, “I didn’t hide anything about me. I didn’t try to act a certain way or anything,” he said. “You just couldn’t be [gay] back then” in the R&B scene. These days, things are different. “It wasn’t like that in the ’90s, but I’m glad I get to see it,” he said of stars like Lil Nas X and Frank Ocean coming out publicly early in their careers. “I’m glad that’s changing,” Tevin added. “There are a lot of kids, especially young Black boys that need to see representation. They’re not being taught to love themselves because of who they are.”
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A year after Demi Lovato came out as nonbinary in May 2021 and started using they/them pronouns (“I feel that this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am, and am still discovering” Demi said at the time), the pop star updated pronouns again, in her Instagram bio, in May 2022, adding she/her alongside they/them. In August 2022, Demi explained the change (“Recently, I’ve been feeling more feminine, and so I’ve adopted she/her again,” she told the “Spout” podcast.) Demi has also publicly shared her evolving sexuality identity: In 2015 following the release of “Cool for the Summer,” which featured lyrics flicking at sexual fluidity, Demi hinted in an interview on “Chatty Man” that she wasn’t straight. Then in 2017, after previously only publicly dating men, she was romantically linked to a woman. In 2018, Demi told InStyle, “I’m very fluid, and I think love is love. You can find it in any gender. I like the freedom of being able to flirt with whoever I want.” In a 2020 interview on “Radio Andy,” Demi recalled coming out to her parents three years earlier. “I didn’t officially tell my parents that I saw myself ending up possibly with a woman until 2017,” she explained, adding, “My mom was the one that I was super-nervous about [telling], but she was like, ‘I just want you to be happy.’ And that was so beautiful and amazing. I’m so grateful.” More recently, in a March 2021 interview on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Demi confirmed she’s pansexual. “[I like] anything, really,” they said. “I heard someone call the LGBTQIA+ community ‘the alphabet mafia.’ … That’s it! That’s what I’m going with. I’m part of the alphabet mafia and proud.”
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Oscar-nominated English actress Cynthia Erivo publicly opened up about being bisexual in a cover story for British Vogue’s August 2022 Pride issue. “[LGBTQ+ people] still feel the need to be constantly justifying why we deserve to be treated as equal beings, when really the only difference is that we love differently and we express ourselves differently,” the Grammy and Tony winner said. “Rather than being chastised for that, we should be commended for being brave. That’s the most important thing: giving people the space to show up fully as who they are.” Cynthia, whose relationship with Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe had become increasingly public in the run-up to her Vogue cover release, adding on Instagram, “Nerves and fear have gotten in the way of sharing all of who I am, and today with #pride and with wonderful people beside me I’m sharing a little more. Thank you [British Vogue editor] @edward_enninful for giving me the space and loving on me…”
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On June 28, 2022, “Sister Wives” stars Meri Brown and Kody Brown’s only child together came out as transgender. “Someone recently told me that i didn’t have to have all of my s*** figured out in order for me to share myself with the world. so here’s me, definitely not having almost any of my s*** figured out, to let you know that i am trans. my name is Leon or Leo (i love both) and my pronouns are they/them,” Leon Brown, who’s appeared on their parents’ reality show, wrote on Instagram. “I remember the first time that i knew i wasn’t a girl. i was pretty young & unfortunately i grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered & restrictive. so i continued to be socialized as a girl & later a woman. and here’s the thing, i’m finally ready to share my favorite self with the world. and that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic,” they continued. “Being queer & trans are definitely some of my favorite parts of myself. and yet, there are so many things that i am learning to love about myself through this process. here’s to me getting to know myself, share myself, and continually evolve to be the person i am, to be my favorite self in all contexts.” Leon concluded their post, “I’m sharing this part of myself to let folks in, and also to set some boundaries. if you choose to not use my correct name or pronouns, then you do not need to speak to or about me. my name is Leo or Leon, and my pronouns are they/them. please only refer to me in that way.”
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Rebel Wilson took to Instagram on June 9, 2022, to confirm that she’s now in a relationship with a woman — Ramona Agruma, a clothing and jewelry designer based in Los Angeles. “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove,” the comedy star captioned a selfie with her new love. It’s not known how long they’ve been together, but they were spotted heading to the Super Bowl together in February 2022.
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Janelle Monae came out as pansexual in a May 2018 Rolling Stone cover story. And on an April 2022 episode of “Red Table Talk,” the singer-actor shared that she’s also nonbinary. (Her rep confirmed the artist still uses she/her pronouns.) “Being a Black queer woman in America, someone who has been in relationships with both men and women, I consider myself to be a free-a** motherf*****,” she told Rolling Stone. Janelle initially described herself as bisexual, the magazine reported, but later decided she preferred the term pansexual, which connotes an attraction to someone regardless of their gender identity. “Later I read about pansexuality and was like, ‘Oh, these are things that I identify with too. I’m open to learning more about who I am,” she explained. Nearly four years later, she opened up about her evolving gender identity. “I’m nonbinary, so I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely,” she explained on “Red Table Talk.” “I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ If I am from God, I am everything. I am everything, but I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything beyond the binary.”
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Stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael came out out as gay in his HBO special “Rothaniel,” which premiered on April 1, 2022. While on stage talking about once catching his father cheating, he shared, “After that was out in the open, I was left alone feeling like a liar, because I had a secret. One that I kept from my father, my mother, my family, my friends and you. Professionally, personally. And the secret is that I’m gay,” he said, as reported by Variety. Later in the show, he said he “rebelled against” his sexuality for years, explaining, “I thought I’d never, ever come out. At many points, I thought I’d rather die than confront the truth of that, to actually say it to people. Because I know it changes some people’s perceptions of me. I can’t control that.”
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Actor Kal Penn publicly came out as a gay man in an interview with People magazine that hit the internet on Oct. 31, 2021, while promoting his book “You Can’t Be Serious” — which comes out on Nov. 2 — when he revealed that he’s engaged to his boyfriend of 11 years, Josh. The “House,” “Designated Survivor” and “Harold and Kumar” franchise star told the magazine he and Josh met in Washington, D.C., during the period he took a break from Hollywood to work for then-President Barack Obama’s administration. Though “I’ve always been very public with everybody I’ve personally interacted with,” Kal explained, his partner and family are very private people, so he wanted to respect that. Still, he added, he’s “really excited to share our relationship with readers” of his memoir, which reveals, among other things, how they met and why Kal didn’t think the relationship would work out at first. “I discovered my own sexuality relatively late in life compared to many other people,” Kal told People. “There’s no timeline on this stuff. People figure their s*** out at different times in their lives, so I’m glad I did when I did.”
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Months after “Dance Moms” alum JoJo Siwa debuted her romance with a woman in early 2021, another former “Dance Moms” star has done the same. Though Chloé Lukasiak hasn’t addressed her sexuality directly, photos she shared on social media in October 2021 served as her unofficial public coming out. She posted a slideshow of pics of herself looking cozy with skateboarder Brooklinn Khoury on Instagram on Oct. 7, and Chloé’s rep later confirmed to E! News that the reality star and the athlete are dating. Chloe, a source elaborated, “is in a place where she feels comfortable sharing her relationship and where she is in her life [with the public] … She is still growing and learning who she is, and she knows there are many others out there who are too. She knows that there is power in sharing her story and that it could help others who look up to her or could benefit from seeing someone like her living her truth and not hiding who or what makes her happy.”
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On the Oct. 12, 2021, episode of “Teen Mom OG,” Amber Portwood, who has two kids with two male exes, revealed that she’s not straight. “People are probably going to be a bit shocked that I am bisexual, that I have had a relationship with a woman for eight months before,” she said, as reported by Page Six, adding that the romance took place more than a decade earlier when she was about 20. Amber said she decided to come out publicly because she wants her children (Leah, with ex Gary Shirley, and James, with ex Andrew Glennon) to know her truth. “Leah and James are actually a really, really big factor. I don’t want them to ever think it’s bad … Who am I to sit here and hide forever, which is what I was actually planning on doing anyways. I was going to go to the grave with this.” Amber came out to her mom — who responded with support — on the same episode after she explained, “I’m very attracted to men, but I’m also similarly very attracted to women as well.”
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In her 2021 book “Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark,” Elvira actress Cassandra Peterson revealed that she’d been in a monogamous relationship with a woman for the previous 19 years. During a September 2021 interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, the actress acknowledged that she’s still attracted to men and said that she considers herself sexually fluid. “I just met this particular person, and I fell in love,” she said of her long-term partner and former trainer, Teresa Wierson. As for her decision to finally go public with their relationship of nearly two decades, “Keeping a secret doesn’t feel good,” she said. “I’m glad to have it out there. I mean, it does worry me. I have moments where I go, ‘Maybe people won’t like me anymore’ and ‘Maybe I won’t get work anymore.’ It’s ridiculous to think that, but I have friends who are gay and have come out of the closet and it affected their work, relationships and their life. So it’s not so far-fetched to be worried. But on the other side of that, it’s so draining keeping it a secret. It’s not good for you, it’s not good for us. It sucks the energy out of you.” Cassandra later told TooFab, “I still consider myself straight, even though I was attracted to a woman … but now there’s so many different things, you can be gender fluid, just attracted to that person. I don’t think I got [to] 50 and suddenly went, ‘Hey, I’m gay. Oh, d***, why’d I wait so long?! I just met a person who was a really special person and who I fell in love with. We were great friends and we fell in love. I don’t know how it happened, it just did.” She added that she waited so long to publicly open up about her relationship with Teresa because she felt she was “protecting the character of Elvira.” Explained Cassandra, “Here Elvira is this big, straight [lusty person] going after guys all the time and you suddenly say, ‘Oh, the person playing her is really with a woman.’ It seems hypocritical and weird and I was trying to save my career and my character. I didn’t know what to do. It’s my means of making a living and I didn’t want to throw that down the, you know, toilet and start over.” She also noted that when she first came out to the people in her life, some of her older friends “had a little bit of a struggle” with the news.
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Emma Corrin, who played Princess Diana on season 4 of “The Crown,” came out as queer in April 2021 and later revealed a preference for the pronounces “she/they.” In an August 2021 interview with ITV’s “Granada Reports,” Emma shared more. “I think visibility is key with these things. My journey has been a long one and has still got a long way to go. I think we are so used to defining ourselves,” they said, adding, “That’s the way society works within these binaries, and it’s taken me a long time to realize that I exist somewhere in between, and I’m still not sure where that is yet.” Emma later posted the interview on their Instagram Story, explaining, “First time addressing my queerness and my journey on TV was scary! But visibility is key.”
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“Good Girls” and “Parenthood” alum Mae Whitman came out as pansexual on Aug. 16 in a tweet promoting her animated Disney Channel series “The Owl House,” which includes LGBTQIA characters. “Just taking a moment to say I am SO proud to be even a small part of a show like The Owl House,” she tweeted. “Being pansexual myself, I wish I had such incredible characters like Amity and Luz in my life when I was growing up. Queer representation is so so so important :,) keep it up world! #TOH.” She followed that up with the message, “I know ppl might be unfamiliar with what pansexual means; for me it means I know I can fall in love with people of all genders. This is the word that fits me best and I’m proud+happy to be part of the Bi+ community.”
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In an August 2021 interview with Sunday Times Style promoting her book “Who Cares Wins: How to Protect the Planet You Love,” British model-turned-author Lily Cole revealed that she identifies as queer. “I like that word because of its openness, because I think all those boundaries are quite rigid. I have lots of friends who identify as bisexual, lesbian, or whatever, who also identify as queer,” she explained. “I’ve always been quite private about my private life, consciously, and I want to continue to be, so I don’t feel the need to be explicit. At the same time I feel the need to acknowledge that I am not straight.”
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“13 Reasons Why” star Tommy Dorfman — who played Ryan Shaver on the Netflix drama — reintroduced herself to the world as a trans woman in a July 2021 interview with Time magazine, explaining, “For a year now, I have been privately identifying and living as a woman — a trans woman. It’s funny to think about coming out, because I haven’t gone anywhere. I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically. Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”
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Singer David Archuleta — the runner-up on season 7 of “American Idol” — came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in a lengthy and loving June 12, 2021, social media post in which he urged others with strong religious beliefs like him to be understanding and compassionate of people like him. “I like to keep to myself but also thought this was important to share because I know so many other people from religious upbringings feel the same way,” he began his post, which continued in the comments. “I’ve been open to myself and my close family for some years now that I am not sure about my own sexuality. I came out in 2014 as gay to my family. But then I had similar feelings for both genders so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also have learned I don’t have too much sexual desires and urges as most people which works I guess because I have a commitment to save myself until marriage. Which people call asexual when they don’t experience sexual urges. There are people experiencing the same feelings of being LGBTQIA+ … who are wrestling to follow their beliefs that are so important to them, just as I have.” David explained that he doesn’t “have all the answers” but asked his followers to “please consider making room to be more understanding and compassionate to those who are LGBTQIA+, and those who are a part of that community and trying to find that balance with their faith which also is a huge part of their identity like myself. I think we can do better as people of faith and Christians, including Latter-day Saints, to listen more to the wrestle between being LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith.” He explained he hopes to let people in his same situation “know you’re not alone. You can be part of the LGBTQIA+ community and still believe in God and His gospel plan…” David explained, adding that he “tried for almost 20 years to try and change myself until I realized God made me how I am for a purpose.”
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“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” actor Joshua Bassett casually came out in May 2021 and clarified things in June. In a chat with Clevver News, the singer-actor gushed about Harry Styles, calling the British heartthrob “cool” and “hot” before adding, “I guess this is also my coming out video.” He then wrote on social media, in part, “Love who you love shamelessly,” though stopped short of labeling his own sexuality, adding, “It’s OK to be figuring out who you are.” Joshua clarified things a little more in a June interview with GQ, confirming he isn’t straight. “There are plenty of letters in the alphabet… Why bother rushing to a conclusion? Sometimes your letter changes, sometimes you try a different one, other times you realize you’re not what you thought you were, or maybe you always knew. All of these can be true,” he explained. “I’m happy to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community because they embrace all. Don’t let anyone tell you love isn’t love. They’re the ones who probably need it the most.”
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In May 2021, “Dance Moms” alum Zackery Torres took to TikTok to share some new pronouns: they/she. “I’m transitioning. That means I’m transgender if you didn’t know,” she explained in the post. The University of Southern California graduate later shared how she felt about the reaction to her big news. “Don’t really have a ton of words to express how I am feeling right now, other than grateful. Grateful to everyone who has supported me and continued to help me be my full self. Grateful for the outpour[ing] of love and support. Grateful to all the advocates who made this possible,” she wrote on Instagram. “As I sit here with my [mouth] still open, it is important to recognize the amount of LGBTQIA+ individuals who do not receive this loving response. There is still work to be done, and I cannot wait to be a part of it. Much love, and HAPPY EARLY PRIDE MONTH!”
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“The Bachelor” season 23 lead Colton Underwood — who became known as the virgin Bachelor during his tenure on the show — came out in an interview with Robin Roberts that aired on “Good Morning America” in April 2021. “I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it. And the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know,” explained Colton, who had high profile relationships with Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and Bachelor Nation stars Tia Booth and Cassie Randolph in recent years. He revealed he knew it was time to accept his truth and come out publicly “because I got to a place where … I would’ve rather died than say I’m gay,” he explained of his dark thoughts. The former professional football player, who said he knew he was “different” when he was 6, told Robin that now, he’s “the happiest and healthiest” he’s ever been.
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Singer Kehlani shared her revelation about her sexual identity in 2021. Initially, while interacting with fans on Twitter in April 2018, she talked about identifying as queer. “I’m queer. Not bi, not straight. I’m attracted to women, men, REALLY attracted to queer men, non binary people, intersex people, trans people,” she wrote, adding, “Lil poly pansexual papa hello good morning. Does that answer your questions?” She continued, “And since we on that… I’m the LEAST attracted to straight men, y’all really adorable sometimes tho. Bisexual men really are little gifts from god tho.” When asked why she prefers the word queer to gay when describing herself, she clarified, “I felt gay always insisted there was still a line drawn as to which ‘label’ of human I was attracted when I really jus be walking around thinking ERRYBODY FINE.” She later deleted some of her comments, explaining, “I retracted my queer tweet because i am being corrected about the way in which i listed the gender spectrum and i’m super super sensitive to being offensive especially when i’m only trying to appreciate. point is, i love love, and that love lies in every gender there is.” In December 2020, Kehlani noted on Twitter that she uses she/they pronouns. Exactly three years after coming out as queer, on April 22, 2021, the R&B singer took to TikTok to share that she now identifies as a lesbian. “I finally know I’m a lesbian,” she said. “I am gay, g-gay, gay.” With a lighthearted tone, she said her friends and family told her they realized it before she did. “Everyone’s just like, ‘Duh. You’re the only one who didn’t f****** know. The f****** closet was glass.'”
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In April 2021, “Celebrity Big Brother” alum Courtney Stodden came out as nonbinary. “They/them/theirs. I don’t identify as she or her,” the reality star and singer wrote on Instagram. “I’ve never felt like I ever fit in anywhere. I was bullied horribly in school because I was different. The other girls never understood me. It got so bad that my mom pulled me out of school. And still, I don’t fit in. I never really connected with anyone my age.” They continued, “My spirit is fluid with a kaleidoscope of color,” adding the hashtags #bekind, #beopen and #loveyourself. Courtney added in a statement to People magazine, “When I look at myself in the mirror, I see a human being so far away from norms, misogyny & labels. I live by my own rules now. I’m excited to show the world all of the sides to who I am on this new journey in music.”
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Inspired by his character on “9-1-1: Lone Star” — who’s gay — actor Ronen Rubinstein publicly came out in April 2021. “I fully identify as bisexual,” he told Variety. “I literally just got goosebumps saying that. It feels so good to talk about it, it feels so good to finally be comfortable with it.” The “Orange Is the New Black” alum, who immigrated to New York from Israel as a child, explained that “where I come from … people who have identified as bisexual or gay or as any part of the [LGBTQIA+] community, you’re just not welcomed. It’s as brutally honest as that. It’s either you faced insane amounts of profanity, like the F-word was thrown around all the time, or you would get your a** kicked if you were gay. So there was definitely a fear of sort of embracing how I felt. I was definitely more aware of it in high school. I was aware of my feelings and how I started looking at men, but I couldn’t talk to anybody about it.” He credited his character’s same-sex relationship on “Lonestar” as well as girlfriend Jessica Parker Kennedy for giving him the courage to come out. “She definitely encouraged me to be vocal about it, just to live my truth,” Ronen explained. “She’s like, ‘I love you for who you are, your full self and people will love you for who you are and your full self.'”
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In January 2021, after days of dropping hints, social media star, singer and actress JoJo Siwa confirmed that she’s a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “I have never, ever, ever been this happy before and it feels really awesome,” she told fans in a lengthy Instagram Live video posted one day after she tweeted a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt that read “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” alongside the caption, “My cousin got me a new shirt.” The “Dance Moms” alum, who’d also recently shared a TikTok video of herself singing along to Lady Gaga’s LGBTQ anthem “Born This Way,” told fans she wasn’t ready to choose a specific label for herself “because I don’t really know this answer.” She added that her parents have known she’s not straight and are supportive. “Around two years ago, [my mom] was like, ‘I don’t think you only like boys, that’s totally OK.’ … My family is awesome.” A few weeks later, JoJo revealed she had a girlfriend who’d encouraged her to come out, Kylie Prew. In an April 2021 People magazine cover story, JoJo revealed she’d put more thought into how she’d describe herself. “I still don’t know what I am. It’s like, I want to figure it out. And I have this joke. Her name is Kylie. And so I say that I’m Ky-sexual,” she quipped. “But like, I don’t know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight. I always just say gay because it just kind of covers it or queer because I think the keyword is cool.” However, she added, “I like queer. Technically, I would say that I am pansexual because that’s how I have always been my whole life is just like, my human is my human.”
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T.J. Osborne — the frontman for duo Brothers Osborne — came out in an interview with TIME magazine published on Feb. 3, 2021. The musician said he’s been out to his family and friends for years, but that the coronavirus pandemic inspired him to share his life truth with fans. “I’m very proud to put this out there,” T.J. said in a video he posted on Instagram. “I want you to know … the person you’ve gotten to know over the years is me. Now you’ve just gotten to know more about me.” T.J. — who’s now the first and only openly gay man signed to a major music label in the country genre — was met with tons of support from the country music community on social media.
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In February 2021, former WWE superstar Gabbi Tuft — who wrestled under the name Tyler Reks from 2007 to 2014 — came out as a transgender woman. “I know that there are thousands of transgender women, transgender men that are going through the same process I’m going through, and they don’t have the support that I do,” Gabbi told “Extra” host Billy Bush, praising wife Priscilla for being her rock. “And so here’s what I pledge: I promise that I will share my story and be 100% transparent, because knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel can just be that ray of hope that keeps somebody with us, that keeps him alive, and lets them know, ‘Yes, I can do this too.'”
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“The Real Housewives of Orange County” star Braunwyn Windham-Burke publicly came out as a gay woman in December 2020. She shared the news about her sexuality in a video interview with GLAAD, explaining, “I’m finally comfortable enough to say I like women. I’m gay. I’m a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m a lesbian. It has taken me 42 years to say that but I am so proud of where I am right now. I’m so happy where I am. To be able to be comfortable in my own skin after so long is just so nice.” She further shared that she had a new girlfriend (they split in early 2021) but planned to stay married to Sean Burke, her husband of more than 20 years with whom she has seven children. “I love Sean. I love him dearly, he is my person, he is my family,” she said. “But I’m not attracted to men and I never have been.” Sean took to his Instagram Story to publicly support his wife. “I love you. I’m proud of you. And I support you. Always,” he wrote.
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In October 2020, Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin — who rose to fame on the Netflix documentary series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” — told Pink News, “I have always considered myself to be bisexual. Even though I’ve never had a wife, I could just as easily have a wife as a husband,” she said. The “Dancing With the Stars” contestant, who’s married men, explained that she began exploring her sexuality decades ago when she was engaged to a psychologist who worked with the LGBTQ community. “I was always very male-oriented in the things I did … I never had any mothering instincts or anything, you know, I never played with dolls. And so I always thought that there was something off there, that I couldn’t quite put my finger on,” she said of her childhood. “But it was during the ’80s that I discovered that through dealing with the LGBT+ community that I [realized] I had just as equal feelings for women as I did for men.” According to Carole, “I think we are all one and I just don’t see us as being different genders or different colors or anything.”
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In 2016, “Teen Wolf” alum Tyler Posey clarified comments he’d made implying he was gay, explaining on Twitter, “I’m not gay [but] I fully support the LGBTQ community.” But in August 2020, he revealed on his OnlyFans account, “yes, I have been with men before.” The same month, he said on an Instagram Story that he’d also been intimate with trans women. A few months later in October 2020, the actor addressed those comments, telling SiriusXM’s “The Jason Ellis Show” that he was so upset after reading about trans women who were being beaten and harassed, he felt he had to speak out. “I was hit with wanting just to come out myself with that whole thing and be honest about it,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of kids that look up to me and I just want to f****** get rid of that stigma [and show] you can be whoever you want to be, get with whoever you want to get with, and it doesn’t affect you and it doesn’t affect them. The world’s f****** weird and it should be. And there’s too much stigma on everything and sexuality, especially.”
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When “Reno 911!” alum Niecy Nash announced that she’d married musician Jessica Betts in August 2020, it signaled that she wasn’t straight, though she’s declined to put a label on her sexuality. The “Selma” and “Claws” actress, who was previously twice wed to men, later told People magazine her marriage to Jessica wasn’t an official coming out moment. She described it as “going into myself and being honest about who I love,” explaining, “I’m not limiting myself on what that love is supposed to look like.” According to Niecy, her marriage to a woman “has absolutely nothing to do with gender and it has everything to do with her soul,” adding, “I was not suppressing my sexuality my whole life. I love who I love. At one point in my life, I married twice and I love those people. And today I love this person. I’ve done everything I wanted to do on my own terms and my own way. So my choice now in a partner has nothing to do with who I’ve always been. It’s a matter of who I am in this moment.”
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Four years after publicly coming out as bisexual, “Grey’s Anatomy” alum Sara Ramirez came out as nonbinary. In an August 2020 Instagram post in which they used the hashtag #nonbinary, Sara wrote that they have the capacity to be a “Girlish boy,” “Boyish girl,” “Boyish boy,” “Girlish girl,” “All” and “Neither.” Sara also indicated in their Instagram bio that they will use both she/her and they/them pronouns.
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In June 2020, actress Lili Reinhart publicly came out as bisexual. The “Riverdale” star made the announcement on her Instagram Story while encouraging her followers to attend an LGBTQ+ for Black Lives Matter protest in the Los Angeles area. “Although I’ve never announced it publicly before, I am a proud bisexual woman,” she wrote. “I will be joining this protest today. Come join.”
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Golden Globe-nominated “Hairspray” star Nikki Blonsky, who played Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 film, came out as a gay woman in June 2020 via social media. She posted a TikTok video in which she sang along and danced to Diana’s Ross’s hit “I’m Coming Out,” captioning it, “Hi, it’s Nikki Blonsky from the movie I’m Gay! #pride #imcomingout #hairspray.” She shared the news on Instagram the same day, captioning a rainbow-filled image that read “I’M GAY!” with a similar sentiment: “I’m coming out! #pride.”
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Over Pride weekend in June 2020, “Orange Is the New Black” star Taylor Schilling took to Instagram to reveal that she was romantically involved with musical and visual artist Emily Ritz. The move was seen as a public coming out for Taylor, who played a bisexual character, Piper Chapman, on the hit Netflix series and had long been loathe to discuss her dating life in interviews. “I’ve had very serious relationships with lots of people, and I’m a very expansive human. There’s no part of me that can be put under a label. I really don’t fit into a box — that’s too reductive,” she told ES Magazine in 2017.
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“Supergirl” star Chyler Leigh came out as a member of the LGBTQ community in an essay published on Creating Change, a site she co-founded, in May 2020. In the piece titled “Wear Your Pride,” she explained how much the scene where her “Supergirl” character, Alex Danvers, comes out as a lesbian resonated with her. “When I was told that my character was to come out in season 2, a flurry of thoughts and emotions flew through and around me because of the responsibility I felt to authentically represent Alex’s journey. What I didn’t realize was how the scene where she finally confessed her truth would leap off the pages of the script and genuinely become a variation of my own. IRL.” Chyler, who came to fame on “Grey’s Anatomy” — and has been married to actor-musician Nathan West, the father of her three kids, since 2002 — didn’t specify in her post how she self-identifies but did go on to explain that though her character’s words didn’t “exactly match my personal dialogue, the heart behind it surely did.” Chyler further explained, “It’s been a long and lonely road for both my husband and myself but I can wholeheartedly say that after all these years, he and I are still discovering the depths of ourselves and each other, but throughout our journey, we’ve learned to be proud of who we are, no matter the cost.”
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“Moana” star Auli’i Cravalho used social media to come out as bisexual in April 2020 after a fan tweeted her asking if she likes girls. Auli’i responded, “If I may escort you to my TikTok…” and directed fans to her account. There, she’d posted a video of herself captioned “5:53a thirst trap” in which she lip-synced parts of Eminem’s “Those Kinda Nights.” The lyrics? “‘Seriously though, jokes aside, how you doin’? You straight?’/ She said, ‘No, I’m bi / She said, ‘Are you drunk?,’ I said, ‘No, I’m high’/ ‘I’m checkin’ out the chick,’ she said, ‘So am I.'”
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“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Detective Pikachu” actor Justice Smith publicly came out as queer in a June 2020 Instagram post while voicing his support for queer and trans people against the backdrop of a Black Lives Matter protest. He shared that he and his boyfriend, “Queen Sugar” actor Nicholas Ashe — who also reportedly publicly came out via the post — were protesting in New Orleans early in the month. “We chanted ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ ‘Black Queer Lives Matter’ ‘All Black Lives Matter.’ As a black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added,” Justice wrote in part alongside a slideshow of photos from the event as well as with his love, Nicholas. Justice later wrote on Twitter, “yo tf i didn’t come out, y’all came in.”
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In 2015, model-actress Cara Delevingne came out as bisexual in a story in Vogue. At the time, she was dating music star St. Vincent. In 2018, she discussed her gender identity, confirming that she is gender fluid. Then in a June 2020 interview with Variety to celebrate Pride Month, she gave fans an update on her sexual identity. “I always will remain, I think, pansexual,” the British star said of her attraction to a person regardless of their sexual or gender identities. “However one defines themselves, whether it’s ‘they’ or ‘he’ or ‘she,’ I fall in love with the person — and that’s that. I’m attracted to the person.”
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“What Not To Wear” star Stacy London rang in 2020 by coming out publicly with her girlfriend on Instagram. The star revealed that she and Cat Yezbak had been dating for a year.
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“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” star J. August Richards came out as a gay man during an April 2020 Instagram Live. While speaking about his new role on “Council of Dads,” he said, “I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I am a gay man myself.” The following day, the actor, who previously starred as Charles Gunn on “Angel,” said he experienced a “crushing avalanche of LOVE” after publicly coming out. “Who knew that something I once thought of as terrifying had within it something so beautiful,” he said. “For every comment, like, emoji, repost, phone call, text message, everything. I felt it ALL… Thank you!!!”
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YouTuber and singer Rebecca Black — who found fame in 2011 when the music video for her song “Friday” went viral — came out as queer in an April 2020 interview on the “Dating Straight” podcast. “I made a conscious decision to not like, ‘come out,’ but just to like, I don’t know, people started asking and I just stopped responding. I’m still in the process it feels like,” she explained to hosts Jack Dodge and Amy Ordman. “To me, the word ‘queer’ feels really nice,” she added before explaining that she’d recently gotten out of a long relationship with a woman. “I have dated a lot of different types of people. I don’t really know what the future holds.”
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In March 2020, Grammy-nominated rapper Da Brat came out on Instagram and also introduced her girlfriend, Jesseca “BB Judy” Dupart, the CEO of Kaleidoscope Hair Products. “Never have I EVER. Needless to say… I’ve always been a kind of private person until I met my heart’s match who handles some things differently than I do,” Da Brat wrote as she showed off an early birthday gift from her love — a new Bentley. BB Judy added, “I’ve never been SOOOO happy and honestly think that it’s not only because of our connection but also because we really been to ourselves.”
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Jameela Jamil came out as queer in February 2020. The star of “The Good Place” took to to social media with her personal reveal after HBO Max announced that she’d be a judge on the voguing competition series “Legendary” — news that irked some members of the LGBTQ community who felt the show should feature its own. “Twitter is brutal. This is why I never officially came out as queer,” Jameela wrote. “I added a rainbow to my name when I felt ready a few years ago, as it’s not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted, and I always answered honestly if ever straight-up asked about it on Twitter. But I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear and turmoil when I was a kid.” She continued, “I didn’t come from a family with *anyone* openly out. It’s also scary as an actor to openly admit your sexuality, especially when you’re a brown female in your thirties. This is absolutely not how I wanted it to come out. I’m jumping off this hell app for a while because I don’t want to read mean comments dismissing this. You can keep your thoughts.” She went on to explain that she’s long been an ally of the community and urged people to focus on the show’s contestants instead of her.
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“The Flash” star Rick Cosnett took to Instagram in February 2020, to tell fans that he’s gay, though he suspected it wasn’t exactly news to many. “Hi, everyone. Dramatic pause … I’m gay,” he said in his video post. “I just wanted everyone to know because I’ve made a promise to myself to, uh, live my truth every day, and sometimes that is a really hard thing to do when you have all these subconscious things you don’t even know about from childhood, and from society, and from … just life.” He added, “So, there you go. I’m sure most of you probably knew anyway. And, yeah, that’s actually all I wanted to say.”
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DJ Qualls, who initially found fame in the 2000 comedy “Road Trip,” took to Twitter in January 2020 to publicly come out as a gay man after first sharing his news during a comedy show. The star of “The New Guy” and “The Core” wrote: “It is 11:20pm. I just came out on stage at a @jimjefferies show in San Diego. Yep, I’m gay. Been gay this whole time. Tired of worrying about what people would think of me. Tired of worrying about what it would do to my career.”
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While chatting with Fader magazine in 2014 about debut album “In the Lonely Hour,” Sam Smith revealed that it was “about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back.” The Grammy winner later spoke openly about being a “gay man.” Then, in a March 2019 interview with Jameela Jamil’s “I Weigh Interviews” Instagram-based series, Sam explained a further identity evolution. “When I saw the word ‘non-binary/genderqueer’ and I read into it and I heard these people speaking, I was like, ‘F***, that is me,'” said Sam, who at the time still used male pronouns. “Non-binary/genderqueer is that you do not identify in a gender. You are a mixture of all different things. You are your own special creation. That’s how I take it — I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between — it’s all on the spectrum.” Six months later in September 2019, Sam announced a further identity progression. “I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM,” Sam wrote on Instagram. “After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out. I’m so excited and privileged to be surrounded by people that support me in this decision but I’ve been very nervous about announcing this because I care too much about what people think but f*** it! I understand there will be many mistakes and mis gendering but all I ask is you please please try. I hope you can see me like I see myself now. Thank you.”
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Former “The Bachelor” contestant Demi Burnett added some much needed diversity to Bachelor Nation when she came out in a teaser for the sixth season premiere of “Bachelor in Paradise” in 2019. In the promo for the show, she was heard saying, “I don’t care who sees this. I know that I love this girl. I’m just so happy that I found her, and I can definitely picture being with her for the rest of my life.” The woman she was talking about, Kristian Haggerty, was someone Demi had been dating off-camera who soon joined her in Mexico — and later became Demi’s fiancée (they’ve since split). Demi made things crystal clear in a tweet that followed the promo: “Spoiler alert: I’m a queer queen,” she wrote. In August 2019, Demi explained that she came out to her family, who were supportive, right before she came out to America on television. “There’s not been a single gay person in any of my family,” she said on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast. “So coming out to millions all at once? It was overwhelming and it was scary, but my heart knew that that’s what it wanted.”
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NFL free agent Ryan Russell surprised the sports world with his honesty when he publicly came out as bisexual in August 2019. “My truth is that I’m a talented football player, a damn good writer, a loving son, an overbearing brother, a caring friend, a loyal lover and a bisexual man,” Ryan wrote in a first-person story for ESPN.
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Julianne Hough made headlines when she opened up about her sexual identity in a September 2019 cover story for Women’s Health. The former “Dancing With the Stars” pro and “America’s Got Talent” judge explained that as she went through a personal evolution following her 2017 marriage to former pro hockey player Brooks Laich (from whom she’s since split), “I [told him], ‘You know I’m not straight, right?’ And he was like, ‘I’m sorry what?'” she told the mag. “I was like, ‘I’m not. But I choose to be with you.'” Brooks took to social media to praise his wife for her honesty. “So proud of my wife @juleshough for the woman she is, and her courage to share her journey of trials and triumphs!” he captioned a pic of her Women’s Health cover.
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Amid the wild success of his massive hit song “Old Town Road,” rapper Lil Nas X came out as a gay man at the end of Pride Month in June 2019. While posting a link to his new song “C7osure,” the rapper tweeted, “Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not [going to f*** with me] no more. But before this month ends I want y’all to listen closely to c7osure.” He added a rainbow emoji. In the song, Lil Nas X sings of living a “more authentic life.” He later shared a video of his EP’s artwork, zooming in on a rainbow projected on a building. “I thought I made it obvious,” he later tweeted.
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Back in August 2016, the Disney Channel “Shake It Up” alum Bella Thorne used social media to publicly discuss her sexual fluidity. When a fan tweeted Bella to ask if she was bisexual, the teen star replied, “Yes.” She followed it up in another tweet that read, “Aww thank you for all the accepting tweets from everyone. I love you guys #pride.” Nearly three years later in a July 2019 interview with “Good Morning America,” Bella revealed that her sexual identity had evolved. “I’m actually a pansexual, and I didn’t know that,” she said, explaining that to her, that means “you like what you like… Doesn’t have to be a girl, or a guy, or… you know, a he, a she, a this or that. It’s literally, you like personality, like you just like a being.”
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In February 2019, Tony Award winner Ben Platt opened up about his sexual identity publicly in both the video for his song “Ease My Mind” and in an interview with People magazine. “I’ve been out since I was 12 years old to my family and anyone in my life,” the Broadway and “Pitch Perfect” star said. “I’ve never sort of hidden that or been ashamed by it. It’s just part of me.”
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Josie Totah, who stars on the rebooted Peacock version of “Saved By the Bell” and found fame on the Disney Channel’s “Jessie,” came out as a transgender female in an essay for Time magazine at 17 in August 2018. She shared her new name and explained that she had always been pegged as “J.J. Totah, gay boy… People kept assuming my identity.” But she finally felt ready to speak her truth publicly after making the decision to start hormone replacement therapy at 14, which helped her, slowly but surely, grow more confident. “My pronouns are she, her and hers,” she wrote. “I identify as female, specifically as a transgender female. And my name is Josie Totah.”
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In April 2019, pop icon Ariana Grande seemingly confirmed her bisexuality in her hit song “Monopoly.” The Grammy-winning singer declared in her lyrics, “I like women and men,” causing many of her fans to assume she was coming out. Following the brouhaha, a fan tweeted, “Ariana ain’t gotta label herself, but she said what she said,” which led the singer to tweet back, “I haven’t before and still don’t feel the need to now which is okay.”
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In May 2019, Nickelodeon actor Michael D. Cohen revealed that he’s transgender. The “Henry Danger” star told Time magazine, “I was misgendered at birth. I identify as male, and I am proud that I have had a transgender experience — a transgender journey.” Michael actually played female roles in his native Toronto in the ’90s then began transitioning in 2000. Explaining why he waited to open up publicly, the actor said, “This crazy backlash and oppression of rights is happening right in front of me. I can’t stay silent. The level of — let’s be polite — misunderstanding around trans issues is so profound and so destructive. When you disempower one population, you disempower everybody.”
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“Andi Mack” actor Joshua Rush made history when he played the Disney Channel’s first openly gay teen character. In August 2019, the “Where’s Waldo” voice actor used social media to publicly come out himself as “an out and proud bisexual man,” he tweeted as part of a lengthy thread explaining his decision to speak about his identity.
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“Fuller House” star Juan Pablo Di Pace publicly revealed that he’s gay during a TEDx Talk in March 2019 given to students at United World College in the Netherlands that made headlines after it was uploaded to YouTube in June 2019. The Argentinean actor, who competed on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2018, explained to People magazine that though he’d been out to friends and family for 20 years, “In the work life, public life, it just felt like I was still omitting a piece of information because there was some kind of shame or fear there, and so, I saw [speaking about it publicly] as an opportunity to also heal myself,” he said.
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YouTube star and late night television host Lilly Singh confirmed her sexuality in February 2019 when she tweeted out that she was “female, coloured, bisexual.” The Canadian star followed up by saying, “Throughout my life these have proven to be obstacles from time to time. But now I’m fully embracing them as my superpowers. No matter how many ‘boxes’ you check, I encourage you to do the same x.”
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In an April 2019 interview with The Advocate, “Roswell, New Mexico” star and ‘Pretty Little Liars” alum Tyler Blackburn opened up about his sexuality publicly. “I’m queer. I’ve identified as bisexual since [I was] a teenager,” he said. “I heard so many things from within the queer community about bisexuality being a cop-out or bulls*** or the easy way out or something, and that always stuck with me because I felt the pressure from all sides to have [my sexuality] figured out and I think for the longest time, I suppressed more of my attraction to men.” He said it wasn’t until he was in his late 20s toward the end of his “PLL” run “that I really allowed myself to go there and not just wonder about it or lust over it, but experience that vulnerability and experience the emotional aspect of what it is to be bisexual.”
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In November 2018, Michael C. Hall revealed that he takes a very fluid approach to his sexuality. While he’s currently married to a woman, Morgan Macgregor, the “Dexter” and “Six Feet Under” actor feels that he’s not 100% straight. “I think there’s a spectrum,” he said in an interview with the Daily Beast. “I am on it. I’m heterosexual. But if there was a percentage, I would say I was not all the way heterosexual.” Still, Michael said that he’s never had an “intimate relationship” with a man. Rather, he just maintains an open mind when it comes to his thoughts on intimacy. “I think I have always leaned into any fluidity in terms of my sexuality,” he added. Michael has been married — to women — three times.
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In April 2018, “Broad City” actress Abbi Jacobson told Vanity Fair, “I kind of go both ways; I date men and women. They have to be funny, doing something they love. I don’t know — I’ve never really been interviewed about this before.” Abbi and actress Jodi Balfour announced their engagement in 2022.
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Daya celebrated her first National Coming Out Day in October 2018 with a very special Instagram post. “All i gotta say is follow your gut and don’t feel like you owe any sort of explanation to anyone. your sexuality is yours only so build with it at a pace that works for you. i’m proud to be a bisexual member of the LGBTQ community with a girl i love who makes me feel more like me every day,” the “Hide Away” singer wrote. “The support has been beyond and though it wasn’t always easy i also recognize how privileged i am to have had so much of it, so i especially wanna be there for those of u who aren’t surrounded by the most accepting family/friends/communities.”
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In May 2018, Rita Ora released a song with Charlie XCX, Cardi B and Bebe Rexha called “Girls” that features the line “Sometimes, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls.” After getting backlash, the British pop star defended herself, tweeting, “‘Girls’ was written to represent my truth and is an accurate account of a very real and honest experience in my life. I have had romantic relationships with women and men throughout my life and this is my personal journey.”
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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow might be best known for publicly exposing disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and fueling the #MeToo movement, but the star — whose parents are Mia Farrow and Woody Allen — made headlines for a different reason in April 2018. Though he’d previously kept his sexual orientation private, Ronan came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in a speech while accepting a Courage Award from the Point Foundation.
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During a July 2018 Q&A with fans on her Instagram Story, Paris Jackson was asked, “Are you bi?” The daughter of the late Michael Jackson responded, “that’s what you guys call it so i guess but who needs labels.” A few days later, she addressed widespread media reports about her post, revealing that she came out at 14 and considers herself to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Paris also reiterated that she doesn’t want to identify herself with any specific word. “I’m not ‘bisexual.’ I just love people for people,” she wrote. “I don’t label myself so please don’t label me. Thank you!”
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Fans speculated that singer-songwriter Jason Mraz might be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community after he wrote a poem celebrating Pride Month for Billboard.com in June 2018 that ended with the line “I am bi your side.” In an interview with Billboard that was published the following month, he opened up about it — and publicly revealed that he’s sexually attracted to men as well as women. “Honestly, I didn’t realize it was going to be so telling,” he told Billboard. “But I’ve had experiences with men, even while I was dating the woman who became my wife. It was like, ‘Wow, does that mean I am gay?’ And my wife laid it out for me. She calls it ‘two spirit,’ which is what the Native Americans call someone who can love both man and woman. I really like that.”
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Actor Garrett Clayton — who’s most famous for his work on the Disney Channel’s “Teen Beach Movie” and Freeform’s “The Fosters” — publicly came out as a gay man in an August 2018 Instagram post. He brought up his sexuality while writing about his movie “Reach” — a high school dramedy that explores topics including suicide and bullying — and in the process revealed he was in a long-term relationship with another man. “I thought it was important to explain why I took on this project in the first place,” Garrett wrote. “REACH deals with some very serious and timely topics that have affected me personally, and have likely influenced many of your lives as well.” He explained that he wanted to be a part of the film because he and “the man I’ve been in a relationship with for a long time” had dealt with some of the themes in their personal lives. Garrett tagged his partner, writer Blake Knight, in his post. They announced their engagement in 2019 and wed in 2021.
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“Westworld” actress Tessa Thompson publicly came out in an interview with Net-a-Porter published in June 2018. “I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home [to my family], [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion,” she explained. Tessa, who played bisexual Valkyrie in Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” also addressed rumors than she was romantically involved with Janelle Monae, who came out as pansexual in 2018. “It’s tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we’re both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence,” she said, though stopped short of saying they were involved. “Janelle and I love each other deeply. We’re so close, we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, it doesn’t bother me.”
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Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie came out as pansexual in an interview with Paper magazine published in July 2018. “I’m married to a woman and I’m very much in love with her but I’m not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person. Yeah, I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don’t care,” he said. “If a person is great, then a person is great. I just like good people, if your heart’s in the right place. I’m definitely attracted to men. It’s just people that I am attracted to… I guess this is me coming out as pansexual.”
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“Hunger Games” actress Amandla Stenberg publicly came out as a gay woman in June 2018. “OUT & PROUD. So happy to say the words Yep, I’m Gay in official print,” she captioned an Instagram photo of herself wearing a rainbow-plaid jacket and sporting rainbow-colored hair. Amandla, who previously came out as bisexual on Snapchat in 2016, went on to explain that she spoke about her sexual identity with the new issue of Wonderland magazine and urged fans to read it.
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“Glee” alum Kevin McHale came out as a gay man in April 2018 — and used an Ariana Grande song to share his truth. “#NoTearsLeftToCry is gayer than me and I ACCEPT. Ty @ArianaGrande,” he tweeted, marking the first time he’d publicly labeled his sexual identity. The tweets followed several weeks of speculation that Kevin, who played wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams on the hit FOX show for years, was coming out as he’d recently posted photos of himself holding hands with a guy and snuggling with actor Austin P. McKenzie.
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Joey Pollari, who’s appeared on “American Crime” and in the 2018 coming of age comedy-drama “Love, Simon,” publicly revealed that he’s gay in March 2018. While being interviewed by The Advocate, Joey shared that he came out to friends and family back when he was 18.
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Sasha Lane, best known for her roles in films like “American Honey,” came out in January 2018 during a Sundance Film Festival press conference promoting her film “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” The actress revealed that she’s gay while talking about her home life, explaining that she grew up with a brother who’s also gay.
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Actor Lee Pace of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Hobbit” franchise fame publicly came out as “a member of the queer community” in a series of tweets in March 2018. The “Halt and Catch Fire” star spoke out following an interview with W that left him irked after the reporter questioned him about his sexuality. “I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say — I find your question intrusive,” he told the mag. Lee then took to Twitter to explain his reaction: “In a recent phone interview, I was asked questions that I wasn’t expecting and found myself momentarily at a loss for the right words. My privacy is important to me, so I protect it. When interviewed by the media, I keep the focus on my work. As a member of the queer community, I understand the importance of living openly, being counted, and happily owning who I am. That’s how I’ve always lived my life… just as it’s been important to me to portray queer characters with dignity for my entire career: A Soldier’s Girl (Showtime. 2003). The Normal Heart (Broadway. 2011). Halt and Catch Fire (AMC. 2014-2017). Angels in America. (Broadway. NOW.) Onward, with Pride.”
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Former child star Aaron Carter endured many struggles in 2017, but one positive step he took, he explained, was to be honest about his sexual identity. In August 2017, the pop star revealed on Twitter that he’s bisexual. He also revealed he’d dated one of his male backup dancers when he was 17. “This doesn’t bring me shame, just a weight and burden I have held onto for a long time that I would like lifted off of me,” Aaron wrote. In March 2018, Aaron drew criticism when he seemingly backpedaled, telling the “HollywoodLife” podcast, “It was more so just a story that happened when I was like 17 with somebody. And I can find men and women attractive, but when it comes down to it, I think it was a little misconstrued. I see myself being with a woman and having kids. I want to have a family.”
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Everyone loves Barb, and she loves everyone! In April 2017, “Stranger Things” star Shannon Purser announced via Twitter, “I don’t normally do this, but I figure now is as good a time as any to get personal. I’ve only just recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends.”
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In a May 2017 interview with Out Magazine, “Arrested Development” star Alia Shawkat announced her bisexuality. She told the mag, “I was a tomboy growing up, and I remember my mom asking me when I was 10, ‘Are you attracted to boys or girls?’ I said I don’t know. Now I consider myself bisexual, and I think balancing my male and female energies has been a big part of me growing as an actor.”
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Gordon Thomson, who portrayed the homophobic villain Adam Carrington on “Dynasty,” announced in September 2017 that he is a gay man. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Gordon said, “I’m assuming that people know, and now that I’m my age, that’s fine. I don’t go out of my way because it’s my generation, I think. I’m probably as homophobic as any gay man alive because of my background.”
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CMT host Cody Alan made the big decision to come out in January 2017. “As we start a new year, there is something I want to share with you. You see, I’m gay,” he shared on Instagram. “This is not a choice I made, but something I’ve known about myself my whole life. Through life’s twists and turns, marriage, divorce, fatherhood, successes, failures — I’ve landed on this day, a day when I’m happier and healthier than I’ve ever been. And I’m finally comfortable enough for everyone to know this truth about me. Thanks for following me and supporting me over the years. As we continue our journey, I hope this news won’t change how you see me. I’m still the same Cody I always was. You just know a little more about me now. My hope for the future is to live the most honest, authentic, loving, and open life possible. Here’s to being happy with yourself, no matter who you are, who you love, where you come from, or what cards life has dealt you.”
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In March 2018, former Disney Channel star Alyson Stoner, who’s also known for appearing in “Step Up,” penned an essay for Teen Vogue in which she revealed, “I, Alyson, am attracted to men, women and people who identify in other ways. I can love people of every gender identity and expression. It is the soul that captivates me,” she wrote. The former “Suite Life of Zack and Cody” actress, who’s also lent her voice to “Phineas and Ferb,” asked fans “to accept me as I accept myself.”
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Rapper iLoveMakonnen made headlines in January 2017 when he tweeted, “As a fashion icon, I can’t tell u about everybody else’s closet, I can only tell u about mine, and it’s time [I] come out.”
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In an interview with Vulture published in June 2017, “Orphan Black” star Jordan Gavaris announced his sexuality to the world. The actor told the publication, “Oh, I’m gay. Nobody ever asks me. I’ve never been asked. Like, the whole course of the series.”
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“13 Reasons Why” actor Brandon Flynn proudly publicly revealed his sexual identity on Instagram in September 2017 in a lengthy post urging Australians to support marriage equality. The actor wrote, “We’ve fought, we’ve come out bravely even in our fear, and you wrote a message in the sky because you’re scared. Equality takes courage, it worries me that too many people in this world lack the balls to stand up for what is right.” He also showed the world by packing on the PDA with singer Sam Smith in early October.
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Former “Heroes” actor Thomas Dekker wasn’t planning on coming out, but his hand was kind of forced when director Bryan Fuller gave a speech indirectly outing the actor. Thomas followed up by proudly posting on Instagram, “While it is an odd situation, I thank him because it presents a prime opportunity for me to publicly say that I am indeed a man who proudly loves other men. In fact, this April, I married my husband and I could not be happier.”
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In an open letter published on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls website in June 2017, “Parks and Recreation” star Natalie Morales opened up about who she is. She wrote, “I don’t like labeling myself, or anyone else, but if it’s easier for you to understand me, what I’m saying is that I’m queer.”
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“The Walking Dead” star Daniel Newman took to social media in March 2017 to announce that he’s gay and proud. He followed up in an interview with People magazine, telling the mag, “I don’t want to be hidden and have to dodge the question. I’m proud of who I am.”
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Sarah Paulson came out unexpectedly by kissing her then-partner Cherry Jones as Cherry went to accept her Tony Award in 2005. Sarah later explained the moment to No Tofu magazine, stating, “She won a Tony Award, I kissed her, and all of a sudden I was outed. I didn’t really think about it in that way at the time — I was just doing what one would do when a person they love has just won a big fat acting prize. What am I gonna do, pat her on the back and say ‘good job, dude?’ It didn’t occur to me to do anything but what I did.” Since then, Sarah has been out and proud. She publicly confessed her love for girlfriend Holland Taylor in March 2016 after the two had been dating for five months. Sarah also gushed about Holland at the 2016 Emmys, finishing her acceptance speech by saying, “and Holland Taylor, I love you. Thank you.”
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Speaking of Sarah Paulson’s girlfriend, Holland Taylor came out in November 2015. She was speaking with WNYC when she revealed she was in a serious relationship with a woman. When asked if she wanted to elaborate on her sexuality, she responded, “I haven’t come out because I am out. I live out.”
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“Arrow” star Colton Haynes chose to come out on social media, taking to his Tumblr and coyly addressing a user who commented on his “secret gay past.” Colton responded, “Was it a secret?” which landed him in the headlines. His normally private life became very public, but the actor told Entertainment Weekly, “I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and healthier than I’ve ever been, and that’s what I care about.” In 2017, Colton married celebrity floral designer Jeff Leatham. They split six months later, reconciled, then split again.
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Kristen Stewart came out to ELLE U.K., finally opening up about then-girlfriend Alicia Cargile in the mag’s September 2016 issue. “When I was dating a guy I was hiding everything that I did because everything personal felt like it was immediately trivialized, so I didn’t like it. We were turned into these characters and placed into this ridiculous comic book,” she said about her relationship with ex Robert Pattinson. “But then it changed when I started dating a girl. I was like, ‘Actually, to hide this provides the implication that I’m not down with it or I’m ashamed of it, so I had to alter how I approached being in public. It opened my life up and I’m so much happier.'”
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In the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, Mara Wilson took to Twitter to come out of the closet in June 2016. The “Matilda” star confirmed to fans in a series of tweets that she’s bisexual, and after receiving a flurry of responses signed off the site, saying, “Thank you so much to everybody who has sent me words of support. I support you all, too. ❤️”
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In 2012, actor Matt Bomer was awarded at the Desert AIDS Project’s Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in Palm Springs and during his acceptance speech he thanked a few special people in his life — including husband Simon Halls, a Hollywood publicist, and their three kids. “I’d really especially like to thank my beautiful family: Simon, Kit, Walker, Henry,” he said. “Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment. God bless you.”
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“Modern Family” star Reid Ewing publicly revealed he’s gay in November 2015 on Twitter. When a fan asked if he “just came out” on the social media site after Reid called a male actor “hot af,” Reid responded “I was never in,” confirming his sexuality.
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In 2012, it wasn’t Jim Parsons who publicly announced that he was gay, per se. It was a profile in the New York Times that subtly revealed his sexual identity, which at the time also aligned with his Broadway role as Tommy Boatwright in “The Normal Heart.” According to the Times, “‘The Normal Heart’ resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said.” The play centers around gay men suffering from AIDS in the Big Apple during the ’80s. The “Big Bang Theory” star married his boyfriend of 15 years, graphic designer Todd Spiewak, in 2017.
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In April 1997, Ellen DeGeneres came out by writing it into her sitcom in a highly rated episode of “Ellen” — a very meta outing, which she followed up with a Time magazine interview. “I never wanted to be ‘the lesbian actress.’ I never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community. Ever. I did it for my own truth,” she said.
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In March 2010, “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes publicly came out in an interview with the Advocate. “I never have had a problem saying who I am. … I am who I am. I was never in, as they say. Never,” he said.
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Singer Ryan Beatty came out on Instagram in June 2016. He explained why he decided to reveal his sexual orientation with a photo of a couple holding onto each other behind a pink balloon that read, “Gay Power.” In the caption, he wrote, “proud to be a raging homosexual. it’s taken 20 years of suffocating in the closet for me to become comfortable enough to say it, but now I can finally breathe. i did it!”
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“Kyle XY” star Matt Dallas kicked off the New Year in 2013 with a big announcement: He’s gay and happily engaged! The actor used Twitter to deliver the news, posting a photo of fiancé Blue Hamilton and their pup with the tweet, “Starting off the year with a new fiancé, @bluehamilton. A great way to kick off 2013!”
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Musician Frank Ocean took to Tumblr to post about his sexuality in July 2012, and though he didn’t explicitly say the words “gay” or “bisexual,” he shared a story that explained that at 19, he found his first love — who was a man.
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Maria Bello wrote an essay for The New York Times in 2013 in which she explained her relationship with her close friend Clare and how their relationship had turned into something more romantic. “She was one of the most beautiful, charming, brilliant and funny people I had ever met, but it didn’t occur to me, until that soul-searching moment in my garden, that we could perhaps choose to love each other romantically,” Maria wrote of Clare in her essay. The pair’s split made headlines in early 2016.
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After an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres” in which he didn’t directly come out of the closet, “Empire” star Jussie Smollett spoke to the talk show host backstage and confirmed his sexual identity in March 2015. While talking to Ellen on camera for the backstage segment, Jussie shared, “It was really important to me to make sure that it got across that there is no closet. There’s never been a closet. That I’ve been in. I don’t own a closet, I got a dresser, but I don’t have a closet, but I have a home and that is my responsibility to protect that home.”
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To mark the 100th day of recovery from her battle with cancer in 2013, “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts came out on Facebook in a touching post. “At this moment I am at peace and filled with joy and gratitude,” she shared. “I am grateful to God, my doctors and nurses for my restored good health. I am grateful for my sister, Sally-Ann, for being my donor and giving me the gift of life. I am grateful for my entire family, my long time girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together. I am grateful for the many prayers and well wishes for my recovery. I return every one of them to you 100 fold. On this last Sunday of 2013 I encourage you to reflect on what you are grateful for too.”
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YouTuber Shane Dawson surprised his millions of fans in July 2015 when, after being in a longtime relationship with fellow YouTube star Lisa Schwartz, he came out as bisexual in a video posted to his channel.
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The pages of Sports Illustrated is not a conventional place to come out, but NBA star Jason Collins decided to share his truth in the magazine in April 2013. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand,” Jason explained.
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Following years of speculation, TV journalist Anderson Cooper outed himself in an email to political blogger Andrew Sullivan in 2012. The CNN star wrote, “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”
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After years of speculation about his sexuality, music star Ricky Martin came out in a statement on his website in March 2010, writing, “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids were born with. These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.”
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Elton John came out as bisexual in in October 1976 issue of Rolling Stone. In 1984, he married a woman, recording engineer Renate Blauel. They divorced in 1988 — the same year Elton told Rolling Stone he was “comfortable being gay.”
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YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen came out to her millions of fans via — what else — a YouTube video in June 2015. In her heartfelt reveal, Ingrid shared, “I guess I am just going to get right to it. There’s something that I want you to know, and that something is: I’m gay.”
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After his former girlfriend, pop star Tiffany, accidentally revealed his sexual orientation in an interview, New Kids on the Block singer Jonathan Knight released the following statement in 2011: “I have never been outed by anyone but myself! I did so almost 20 years ago. I never knew that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with NKOTB! I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay! Apparently the prerequisite to being a gay public figure is to appear on the cover of a magazine with the caption ‘I am gay.’ I apologize for not doing so if this is what was expected!”
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“Star Trek” and “Heroes” actor Zachary Quinto didn’t speak publicly about his sexual orientation until October 2011 when, in an interview with New York Magazine, the actor opened up for the first time about life as “a gay man.”
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How did Rosie O’Donnell come out? The comedian guest starred as a gay woman on “Will & Grace” and followed it up by announcing it officially in a stand-up gig at a 2002 benefit. “I’m a dy**! I don’t know why people make such a big deal about the gay thing. … People are confused, they’re shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody,” she said.
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In a 2006 interview with People magazine, “How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris revealed: “I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love.”
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Music star Barry Manilow never addressed his sexuality publicly until he came out by quietly marrying his partner of more than 30 years, Garry Kief. The two married in a private ceremony in 2014 at Barry’s Palm Springs, California, home.
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Cynthia Nixon never made an official coming out announcement. She was outed once she started living with her now-wife, Christine Marinoni, in 2004. “In terms of sexual orientation I don’t really feel I’ve changed… I’d been with men all my life, and I’d never fallen in love with a woman. But when I did, it didn’t seem so strange. I’m just a woman in love with another woman,” the “Sex and the City” star told The Telegraph in 2008.
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*NSYNC singer Lance Bass revealed that he’s gay in a People magazine cover story in July 2006. “I don’t think it’s wrong, I’m not devastated going through this. I’m more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole life. I’m just happy,” he said.
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Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” co-star Kelly McGillis came out in 2009 in an interview for the website SheWired.com. “I think that was an ongoing process from the time I was probably 12. It was a long arduous journey for me,” she said.
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In a June 2009 Rolling Stone interview, singer Adam Lambert — who came to fame on “American Idol” — revealed that he couldn’t wait to openly discuss his sexual orientation, which he long wanted to do so with the music mag. “I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me. … Right after the [‘Idol’] finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, ‘I’m going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,'” he said.
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Wentworth Miller came out as a gay man in a letter in August 2013. The “Prison Break” star sent it to the director of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival to decline his invitation to speak as a special guest. “Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes,” he said in the letter, which was posted on GLAAD’s website. “However, as a gay man, I must decline. I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government. The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly. Perhaps, when and if circumstances improve, I’ll be free to make a different choice.”
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Comedian Wanda Sykes took to the stage at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas in 2008 and addressed her sexuality. “I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked. Now I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a Black woman. And I’m proud to be gay,” she said.
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Actor T.R. Knight told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres he found the courage to come out publicly in a 2006 statement to People magazine after “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star Isaiah Washington used an anti-gay slur on the set. “I was under no delusions,” T.R. said. “My friends on the set knew. We talked about it. Publicly it’s not my thing to call up People magazine and be like, ‘Hey, you want to know something about me?’ … I could’ve just let it slide and not said anything, but it became important. It became important to make the statement.” In his statement to People, T.R. said, “I guess there have been a few questions about my sexuality, and I’d like to quiet any unnecessary rumors that may be out there. While I prefer to keep my personal life private, I hope the fact that I’m gay isn’t the most interesting part of me.”
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Actor Victor Garber acknowledged his partner in an interview with Canada’s Forever Young News in 2012. “My companion Rainer Andreesen and I have been together almost 13 years in Greenwich Village. We both love New York,” he said. He also spoke about his sexuality to the website Greg in Hollywood in 2013. “I don’t really talk about it but everybody knows,” he said before bringing up Rainer, whom he married in 2015. “He’s going to be out here with me for the SAG Awards.”
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While sitting down with Matt Lauer on the “Today” show in December 2009, “Family Ties” star Meredith Baxter revealed, “I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition. Some people would say, ‘Well, you’re living a lie,’ and, you know, the truth is — not at all. This has only been for the past seven years.”
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Shortly after George Michael was arrested after being caught engaging in a sexual act by an undercover police officer in a public bathroom in Beverly Hills in 1998, he appeared on CNN to address his sexual orientation. “I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way, but I don’t feel any shame whatsoever,” the late pop star, who was gay, explained. “I don’t think I ever wanted to address [my sexuality] and certainly not quite this way.”
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Although she had mentioned then-partner Cydney Bernard in 2007, actress-director Jodie Foster used her 2013 Golden Globes acceptance speech time to publicly come out. “I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age. In those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family, coworkers and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her. To everyone she actually met. But now, apparently I’m told, that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show,” said Jodie, who married photographer Alexandra Hedison in 2014.
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In August 2013, actress Raven-Symone came out on Twitter. “I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you,” she tweeted.
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In the February 1999 issue of The Advocate, Broadway star Nathan Lane publicly confirmed that he’s gay. “I just assume a lot of people know,” he told the mag. “It’s never been something I kept a secret.”
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Country music singer Ty Herndon shared his truth with People magazine in November 2014. “During an Anthony Robbins seminar, I realized I had an incredible story that could possibly help someone’s son or daughter or grandchild’s life not be as difficult as mine has been,” he told the mag. “Maybe they wouldn’t have to go through as much pain and suffering. It’s time to tell my truth. I’m an out, proud and happy gay man.”
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Singer Billy Gilman announced that he’s gay on the same day country music singer Ty Herndon came out. In November 2014, Billy posted a video on YouTube and explained how Ty inspired him to follow suit. “It’s taken me a good many weeks to figure out how I was to approach this video that you’re watching right now,” Billy said. “But today, actually, a fellow country artist and friend made it easier for me to make this video. And I wanted my fans, who have stuck by me for many, many years, to know.” Billy further shared, “I took a long time to grow in country music, and I took a while to grow up, and recently released some new music. We filmed a video for the single ‘Say You Will’ in Rhode Island and was getting ready to do an interview with a reporter, locally. And coincidentally I ran into this reporter at a local fall festival with my partner, someone who I am happily now sharing my life with. This reporter took a picture of us and it was in that moment that I knew that I’d rather it be from me, than you reading it somewhere else, and probably filled with not truth.”
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In September 2008, singer Clay Aiken, who came to fame on “American Idol,” confirmed that he’s gay in a People magazine cover story featuring his baby boy. “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that,” Clay said.
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