10 Young Celebs Who Talk Openly About Their Sexuality
Photo: Getty Images1/11Celebrity women and teens are pushing boundaries to help normalize fluid sexuality. Some are refusing to be locked into the traditional definitions of lesbian or bisexual while others are telling the world they are pansexual, gay, or bi. They are boldly walking in their truths. Take for instance Keke Palmer’s “I Don’t Belong To You” video that begins with her in the bed with a man but ends with her at the house of a woman.
Then there’s Teen Vogue cover star Amandla Stenberg who revealed she identifies as bisexual in a Snapchat video. Girls in the public eye are out here free, fearlessly living as their true selves, and no doubt helping others watching them become more comfortable with their own truths. So from Cara Delevingne to Lily-Rose Depp and Miley Cyrus, here are 10 young women redefining how we think and talk about sexuality.
UPDATE: A previous version of this story misidentified Keke Palmer. This has now been corrected.
Getty Images2/11Cara Delevingne, 23
After being photographed kissing Fast and Furious actress Michelle Rodriguez court side at a Knicks game in 2014, the media started to question how the star sexually identified. In an interview with The Telegraph she refused to say one way or the other, but last year she told Vogue she was happy in love with her girlfriend Annie Clark AKA St. Vincent.
"I think people shouldn’t be scared of that. I’m young, I’m having fun, I don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not... Being in love with my girlfriend is a big part of why I’m feeling so happy with who I am these days.”
WireImage3/11Keke Palmer, 22
The Scream Queens actress raised more than a few eyebrows with her music video for “I Don’t Belong to You” that puts her in intimate settings with a man and woman. To quiet everyone’s curiosity she told People magazine she’s making her own rules. "The video was to represent the young woman today – it's not the traditional woman anymore – and not the specifics of 'Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi?' I'm making the rules for myself, and I don't have to be stuck down to one label.”
She told Xonecole.com, "I don’t belong to anyone else but myself. I have to make my own decisions. Happiness is defined by me. My sexuality is defined by me. And that can change and this can change and I can make it what I want to make it because I’m the one who makes that choice. So that’s what 'I Don’t Belong to You,' is saying. This song feels right. It feels right and it’s telling who I am. And it captures my identity."
Getty Images4/11Ellen Page, 28
In 2014, the Juno star came out as lesbian during a speech at a conference for gay teens.
“I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered, and my relationship suffered. We deserve to experience love fully equally without shame and without compromise. There are too many kids out there suffering from bullying, rejection, or simply being mistreated because of who they are. Too many dropouts, too much abuse, too many homeless, too many suicides.”
Getty Images5/11Angel Haze, 23
The Detroit native used Macklemore's “Same Love” to discuss her sexuality with lyrics “No, I'm not gay/No, I'm not straight/And I sure as hell am not bisexual/Damn it I am whoever I am when I am it.”
The rapper was involved in a very public relationship with model Ireland Baldwin, but she isn’t keen on labels although she has been vocal about pansexuality.
"I think labels aren’t for me. It’s not for a person, it’s to make other people comfortable. To kind of identify as pansexual, to me, means to just want love. To have a connection with anyone you can find it with."
WireImage6/11Lily-Rose Depp, 16
The Yoga Hosers actress, face of Chanel, and daughter of Johnny Depp participated in a Self Evident Truths campaign last year that led news outlets to claim the young actress identified as sexually fluid. But the 16-year-old says she did the Instagram video not to come out, but to encourage people to be whoever you want.
“A lot of people took that as me coming out, but it wasn't at all. I did it to say the opposite, to say that you don't have to label your sexuality. If one day I decide to do something different, I'm comfortable with that, with whomever I happen to like. I'm just saying to kids today: It's becoming more acceptable not to label your sexuality, to not say I only like boys, or I only like girls. It's something that's so fluid and not set in stone. You might think you're straight for 50 years and then decide that you're gay, or vice-versa. It can change. It's a spectrum, and everybody is somewhere on the spectrum. Like whoever you want to like and feel whatever you want to feel.”
2016 Jerod Harris7/11Kristen Stewart, 25
Kristen told Nylon magazine she doesn’t feel the need to label herself as straight or gay.
“If you feel like you really want to define yourself, and you have the ability to articulate those parameters and that in itself defines you, then do it. But I am an actress, man. I live in the f*cking ambiguity of this life and I love it. I don’t feel like it would be true for me to be like, ‘I’m coming out!’ No, I do a job. I think in three or four years, there are going to be a whole lot more people who don’t think it’s necessary to figure out if you’re gay or straight. It’s like, just do your thing.”
WireImage8/11Amandla Stenberg, 17
The Hunger Games actress took to Teen Vogue’s Snapchat to speak her truth. The teen has been very vocal about her identity as a black girl and how important representation is. It was equally important to her to discuss her bisexuality.
“It’s a really really hard thing to be silenced and it’s deeply bruising to fight against your identity and to mold yourself into shapes that you just shouldn’t be in. As someone who identifies as a black, bisexual woman I’ve been through it, and it hurts, and it’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable…but then I realized because of Solange and Ava DuVernay and Willow and all the black girls watching this right now, that there’s absolutely nothing to change. I definitely believe in the concept of rebellion through selfhood and rebellion by embracing your true identity no matter what you’re being told.”
Getty Images9/11Lauren Morelli, Age N/A
The Orange Is the New Black writer had Twitter in a frenzy in 2014 when rumors sparked that she was divorcing her husband to date OITNB star Samira Wiley. Morelli wrote an open letter about realizing she was gay while writing the Netflix hit series.
"While writing for Orange Is the New Black, I realized I am gay. I went through it all on set: I fell in love with a woman, and I watched my life play out on screen. And now, as we are gearing up for the release of Season 2, it feels liberating and appropriate to live my life in front of you.”
FilmMagic10/11Ke$ha, 28
In a 2013 interview with Seventeen pop singer Ke$ha says she likes both men and women.
"I don't love just men. I love people. It's not about a gender. It's just about the spirit that exudes from that other person you're with…I wouldn't say I'm gay or straight — I don't like labeling things anyway. I just like people.”
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