Samira Wiley, who is best known for playing Poussey in “Orange Is the New Black” and Moira in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” wasn’t always out and proud.
“First season I wasn’t out at all,” she told the WNYC podcast “Nancy” this week.
Wiley’s big break in “Orange Is the New Black” came in 2014. As she explained, she was forced to come out of the closet due to a slip-up.
“Someone from my cast actually, during the interview they were talking about out gay actors in the cast,” the 31-year-old star Emmy winner said. “And they mentioned my name and I saw it in print, and I cried. I cried a lot.”
Wiley says after seeing her private information in black and white, she tried to get it all taken down.
She adds that coming out should be done on one’s own terms.
“That’s something somebody took from me,” she said. “Everybody’s journey is their own.”
Over the years, as the gay characters she portrayed brought her fame, they also made her feel a bit more comfortable in her own skin.
“I wasn’t out in the beginning and I think falling in love with Poussey, which is a real thing that happened to me, helped me fall in love with myself as well,” Wiley said.
In 2017, Wiley married “OITNB” writer Lauren Morelli. They first met on the set of the Netflix show and got engaged in 2016.