29 celebrity coming out stories that are awesome, funny and inspiring
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Celebrity coming out stories are major and serve as a major inspiration for us. I mean, in general, coming out can be the most pivotal moment in any gay person's life. Being honest about the real you and sharing it with your nearest and dearest can often be daunting and, in some unlucky instances, met with difficulty.
Whether they're telling their family or the wider public, celebrities are, of course, not immune. From Elliot Page's identity struggles before coming out as a trans man to Cynthia Erivo speaking about coming out later in life, everyone has had to navigate their own journey. Whether it be Ellen DeGeneres' brave reveal on her sitcom years ago or Heartstopper star Kit Connor reclaiming his power after coming out in a way he did not expect, here are the 29 celebrity coming out stories to inspire you…
This is a great step forward for LGBTQIA+ representation.
Mike CoppolaDemi Lovato
Demi Lovato came out as nonbinary in 2021. "Today is a day I'm so happy to share more of my life with you all—I am proud to let you know that I identify as non-binary and will officially be changing my pronouns to they/them moving forward," Lovato said on Instagram. A year later, in August 2022, the Skyscraper singer explained that she had returned to using the pronouns she/her because educating people on her pronouns was "absolutely exhausting". She added to GQ Hype Spain: "I just got tired. But for that very reason, I know that it is important to continue spreading the word."
Earlier this year, Demi opened up about coming out to her parents before coming out publicly. "I sat my mom down and said: 'I need to talk to you,' and I said: 'I'm about to go on a date with a girl, and I just wanted you to know and hear it from me that I do like girls too.'" Demi said her mother responded by saying: "I just want you to be happy."
Dia DipasupilJena Malone
The Hunger Games actress Jena Malone opened up about her journey in coming out as pansexual in August 2022. In a video of her dancing to the song Book of Bringhi, she explained that she felt like a "heterosexual man in a woman's body". She later told The Hollywood Reporter that coming out "felt so nice".
"I've been thinking about it for a while. The sexual journey is so beautiful," the mother-of-one said. "It's a part of humanity now to have all these ceremonies of exclamation around coming out and renouncing (an identity) and celebrating that space for yourself. It's a really sweet, human experience. I love getting to learn more about myself no matter the age or my experience."
Dave BenettJoe Locke
Heartstopper actor Joe Locke confirmed his sexuality for the first time in August 2023. "I have been openly gay since I was, like, 12," he told Teen Vogue. "People have assumed and written it, and I haven't ever corrected anyone because I haven't felt the need to – I've never specifically stated my sexuality. He added: "It's a weird guilt I sometimes feel that, by association, their [his family's] lives are affected by choices in my life/It's a mutual thing. I need to learn my boundaries, and people need to learn theirs. Most attention comes from a really good place, and I hope I always appreciate that. His co-star Kit Connor, who came out as bisexual in 2022 following external pressure to do so, gushed: "We were all very proud of him, and we're proud of him controlling the narrative. I'm very proud of him for doing his own thing and what was right for him.
He added: "There's an idea that it's part of the job to lose your privacy, that you lose your right to having privacy. That's something I hope the next generation of people in the public eye can change – I think people are understanding that privacy is non-negotiable."
Mike MarslandGolda Rosheuvel
The Queen of the 'Ton, Golda Rosheuvel, has always been proud of her sexuality. However, speaking on the Just for Variety podcast, the 53 year old revealed that a lesbian director advised her to keep her sexuality a secret at the beginning of her career. "I really admired her, and I was ... really confused. This is really bizarre. How come I can be out privately to my family, to my friends every day, but there's something about being professionally out and publicly out," she said. "We were talking about being out and proud and representation and whether I should say I was gay in interviews. And it was an absolute no. 'You absolutely shouldn't do that. It could or it would ruin your career as an actor,'" she recalled.
She defiantly added: "I would rather lose a job than not be true to who I am. I'd rather not work in an industry that doesn't accept me. It just wasn't how I was raised."
Michael RoweEmily Hampshire
Schitt's Creek star Emily Hampshire previously revealed that the iconic comedy show helped her come out as pansexual. "I looked at Dan, and I was like 'What am I?' I like a person, and I genuinely don't care what the equipment is as long as we're happy," she told 4D With Demi Lovato: "And he was like ', Do you watch the show? You're pan!' Cut to five years later, definitely pan! I had never heard the word pansexual before," she continued. "I've always considered myself super knowledgeable about LGBTQ+ stuff just because everybody in my life, my friends, are all mostly LGBTQ+ people, but I didn't know this."
She also reflected on her past, telling Gay Times: "My dad had trouble accepting my previous relationship, he's not a bad or hateful person, he's just lived in a small town and is of a generation that hasn't been exposed to the gender spectrum we now know it to be. But if MY dad, who has a daughter on one of the most progressive LGBTQ+ positive shows ever, has a hard time being supportive, imagine a teenager in a small town trying to broach feeling like they were born in the wrong body to their parents who just want their kid to be what they know of as "normal", that just breaks my heart."
Santiago FelipeJanelle Monáe
In April 2022, Janelle Monáe confirmed her non-binary identity while revealed on Red Table Talk: "I'm nonbinary, so I just don't see myself as a woman, solely. 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."
This interview came three years after Janelle came out as pansexual. She initially identified as bisexual, "but then 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 said as per Rolling Stone.
Roy RochlinJonathan Van Ness
Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness came out as non-binary in 2019. "The older I get, the more I think that I'm nonbinary — I'm gender nonconforming," he revealed to Out Magazine. "Like, some days I feel like a man, but then other days I feel like a woman. I don't really — I think my energies are really all over the place."
Jonathan continued: "I think that a lot of times gender is used to separate and divide. It's this social construct that I don't really feel like I fit into the way I used to." The TV star also added that "feminine identity" is what makes him strongest. "I just am either like gender-bendy or nonconform-y or nonbinary, and some days I feel like a boy and some days I feel like a girl," Jonathan continued. "I didn't think I was allowed to be nonconforming or genderqueer or nonbinary — I was just always like 'a gay man' because that's just the label I thought I had to be."
Jeremy MoellerTommy Dorfman
13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman first came out as non-binary in 2017, and they were using they/them pronouns. Later, Tommy came out as trans in 2021 and was now going by she/her pronouns. Speaking to Rachel Bilson on her podcast Broad Ideas, Tommy told of her first year living as a trans woman. “I felt like I had to do all those things again as a woman,” Tommy said.” As my body takes a new shape and new form, more organically, like from hormones, I’m then confronted with new challenges.”
Jamie McCarthySara Ramirez
In 2020, Sara Ramirez came out as gender nonbinary. In an Instagram post, Sara wrote: "In me is the capacity to be. Girlish boy. Boyish girl. Boyish boy. Girlish girl. All. Neither. #nonbinary." This came eleven years after Sara's Grey's Anatomy character, Dr. Callie Torres, came out as bisexual, which led to a greater bisexual presentation on screen. Years later, in 2016, Sara officially came out as bisexual following the tragic shooting at the gay Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, which claimed the lines of 49 people. "Coming out publicly was something that I was afraid of because I was concerned that it would affect my career in a negative way," they told People magazine. "I was afraid of the discrimination I might face, not just outside Hollywood, but inside."
They added: "As I continued to read and hear about the countless forms of violence perpetrated against us, including the Orlando shooting at Pulse nightclub, an organic, incremental urgency to use my platform to empower those who are part of these communities that I'm a part of came over me in a way that I've never felt before."
Mike MarslandSam Smith
Sam Smith came out as gay in 2014 and, a few years later, in 2019, came out as non-binary. "I've always had a little bit of a war going within my body and my mind. I do think like a woman sometimes, in my head. Sometimes I've questioned, 'Do I want a sex change?' and it's something I still think about, like: 'Do I want to?'" they said in an interview with GQ. "But I don't think it is. When I saw the words' non-binary' and 'genderqueer' and I read into it, and I heard this person speaking, I was like 'F***, that's me.'"
Karwai TangCynthia Erivo
Cynthia Erivo opened up about coming to terms and accepting her identity later in life during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2022. " I don't think I had the language," the 36-year-old explained to the former American Idol winner. "I knew something was different, but I didn't know what. Like, 'What do I call this? What do I say about it?'"
The interview came a year after she spoke about her sexuality publicly for the first time, self-identifying as queer in an interview with The Evening Standard following the release of her music video The Good. Later, she explained to British Vogue that many 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. 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."
Gabe GinsbergKehlani
Kehlani revealed that a Google Doc helped her figure out her sexuality before she came out as a lesbian. After sharing a TikTok confirming they were "gay gay gay", the star spoke of dating men on Jake Paul and Mike Majlak's podcast IMPAULSIVE, stating: "I quite frankly just thought maybe I was like, somehow broken. And the ability to dissociate in a relationship and during sex and with connection, I thought maybe I had been through too much, or I wasn't meeting the right people, I kept trying."
The singer's therapist then suggested she might be gay and sent her a Google Doc titled Am I A Lesbian? "I read the f**k out of this Google Doc," Kehlani said, adding, "and when I had to sit and analyse why I was still dating men, none of it had to do with being in love. None of it had to do with these feelings that I am supposed to feel and love and care and deep emotion." Relaying what she loves about women, Kehlani said: "It is the softness, attentiveness, care, a deeper understanding of life. Two women being able to share that experience together I feel is like a mind warp of what love is."
Phillip FaraoneLee Rodriguez
Never Have I Ever star Lee Rodriguez came out on National Coming Out Day in 2020. At the time, she wrote in an Instagram post: "I've been asked the same question numerous amount of times. "Question being: 'Are you gay?' And well folks, I felt like there was no better day than today (National Coming Out Day) to publicly say that I AM a proud queer women!"
She then explained that people made assumptions about her sexual identity, telling Cosmopolitan: "When people kept asking me, I felt like maybe I didn't look like a queer person. But you shouldn't have to explain your queerness. You don't owe anyone an explanation for your queerness or proof that you're a valid queer person."
Daniele VenturelliRebel Wilson
Bridesmaids actress Rebel Wilson is now engaged and soon to be married to fashion designer Ramona Agruma. However, she unfortunately did not have the best start to coming out as gay, as she was "outed" by a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald, who gave her two days to comment on her new relationship with Ramona. However, Rebel took back the narrative and posted a picture of herself with the love of her life, with the caption: "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess 💗🌈💗#loveislove".
Jeff Spicer/BFCKit Connor
Heartbreakingly, Kit Connor revealed that he came out as bisexual following mounting pressure from social media users who accused him of "queerbaiting” by playing bisexual teenager Nick Nelson in Netflix's acclaimed series Heartstopper. "I'm bi. Congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye," he wrote on Twitter.
When asked in a later interview with British Vogue if he felt as though he was forced to come out, he responded: "I think 'forced' isn't the right word I would use, but I would say that I would have preferred to do it another way. "I also don't know if I would have ever done it. But at the end of the day, I don't regret it. In many ways, it was really empowering." He also added in the same interview that while his family were extremely accepting of his sexuality, his all-boys school wasn't. " It wasn't hugely inclusive. It wasn't really accepted in a lot of ways," he said.
Brian de Rivera SimonElliot Page
The Human Rights Campaign's Time to Thrive conference was the setting for Elliot Page's coming out as gay in 2014. The Juno star told the audience 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."
Six years later, Elliot came out as a trans man on his social media accounts. The Umbrella Academy star wrote in a statement to his Instagram: "Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they, and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life." He continued: "I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows, and the more I thrive. Elliot concluded: "To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better. Thank you for reading this." Elliot's journey is covered in-depth in his memoir Pageboy.
Gilbert FloresRaven-Symoné
Raven Symoné came out publicly in 2013 while celebrating the federal recognition of same-sex marriage in the US. "I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you," she tweeted at the time. Speaking of the moment, the former That's So Raven star said in a recent interview with E! News: "There were a lot of challenges. There was the crumbling of the wall that I had put up for so many years. "I felt very vulnerable. It was an interesting wound that was opened up in public." She has been happily married to social media manager Miranda Maday since 2020.
Monica SchipperNoah Schnapp
Stranger Things star Noah Schapp came out as gay in January 2023 as he shared a video to his TikTok account in which he wrote: "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'". Alongside the clip, he lip-synced to audio from a viral TikTok of someone saying, "You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious." Referencing his ST character Will Byers, who he confirmed was gay in 2022, he wrote in the caption for the clip: "I guess I'm more similar to Will than I thought."
In a later interview with Variety, Noah said that Will's sexuality helped him in his own journey. "Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself," the actor admitted. "I would be in a completely different place if I didn't have Will to portray and to embrace and help me accept myself. I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted."
Steve GranitzFrank Ocean
A significant moment for the Black LGBTQ+ community, Frank Ocean came out as gay in 2012 with a letter posted to his Tumblr account just before the release of his critically acclaimed debut album Channel Orange. "I feel like a free man. If I listen closely.. I can hear the sky falling too," he wrote, revealing that his first love was a man.
He later said he "cried like a f***ing baby" the night he came out as gay.
Getty ImagesEllen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out story is probably one of the most famous of all. In April 1997, Ellen posed on the cover of Time Magazine with the words ‘Yep, I’m gay’. What followed was interviews with Oprah and later Diane Sawyer, in which she told Sawyer: “I decided this was not going to be something that I was going to live the rest of my life being ashamed of.” Two weeks later, the talk show host came out to the world by on a her ABC sitcom, Ellen; a move which was funny, brave and controversial in equal measure. The episode included a series of overt ‘jumping out of the closet’ gags and although humorous, the message was clear.
Speaking about the 20 year anniversary of her coming out in April 2017, Ellen aired a special viewing of the episode on her eponymous talk show. She said: "It was the hardest thing that I ever had to do in my life, and I would not change one moment of it because it led me to be exactly where I am today, standing in front of you, which is a joy." Ellen has been married to wife Portia de Rossi since 2008.
Getty ImagesColton Haynes
Little did actor Colton Haynes know in January 2016 that a simple reply on a Tumblr post would cause a storm surrounding his sexuality. When a fan wrote “When I found out that Colton Haynes had a secret gay past, I got so excited even though I know it makes absolutely no difference to in my life!” the Arrow and Teen Wolf star replied: “Was it a secret? Let’s all just enjoy life & have no regrets :)”
What followed was countless tabloid headlines which speculated about Haynes sexuality, and finally, an interview with Entertainment Weekly by the actor that confirmed it.
Later in the year, Haynes gave an emotional speech when he picked up the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign conference about his coming out experience which left the room in tears. He said that being gay came “as naturally as the colour of [his] eyes.” Colton has found love with the Kardashian's flower arranger of choice, Jeff Leatham and the pair are engaged to be married.
Getty ImagesRuby Rose
Ruby Rose is gender fluid. Speaking with Willie Geist on Sunday TODAY, she revealed coming out to her mum was pretty painless. “She knew when I was six, apparently,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone else that was gay or a lesbian. So, I didn’t really know how to word it. So I was just like, ‘I think I should let you know that when I eventually get a boyfriend, they’ll be a girl.’ And she was just like, ‘I know.’”
Getty ImagesNicola Adams
Team GB boxer Nicola Adams was terrified in the lead-up to telling her mum she was bisexual. The Olympian told GQ: “It took a lot of courage… I knew one other person in my school who was the same, and we talked. We hadn’t come out, and we were thinking, ‘What is the best approach? How do I tell my mum?’"
She continued: "Mum was in the kitchen washing up and I was like, ‘I’ve got something to tell you’… I was really sweating, and she says, ‘What’s wrong?’ And I was just like, ‘I’m bisexual.’ And she was like, ‘OK, put the kettle on.’ She said she kind of already knew.”
Getty ImagesKristen Stewart
It was no secret that Kristen Stewart was gay - she’s openly dated St. Vincent and Alicia Cargile in the past - but she decided to confirm it in her opening monologue when she hosted Saturday Night Live. She casually told the audience (and millions of viewers at home) “I’m so gay, dude.” Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the moment, she said: “I guess because it was simple and straightforward. Just — ‘I’m so gay, dude'... In that moment, to make it normal and cool and completely unashamed? It felt really cool," she explained of the experience.” Kristen is currently engaged to screenwriter Dylan Meyer.
Getty ImagesMiley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus is openly pansexual and spoke about coming out to her parents and their initial struggle to understand in Variety Magazine. She told them: “My first relationship in my life was with a chick. I grew up in a very religious Southern family. The universe has always given me the power to know I’ll be OK. Even at that time, when my parents didn’t understand, I just felt that one day they are going to understand.”
Getty ImagesSarah Paulson
American Horror Story actress Sarah Paulson came out publicly by mistake. In 2005, her Broadway actress partner Cherry Jones won a Tony Award, and when she went up to receive it, she kissed her.
Speaking to NoTofu, she said: “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.”
Getty ImagesTom Daley
In December 2013, Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley told fans he was bisexual in a YouTube video, saying: "I've been dating girls, but I've never really had a serious relationship to talk about. And now I kind of feel ready to talk about my relationships. Come spring this year my life changed. Massively. When I met someone and they make me feel so happy and safe; everything just feels great. That someone is a guy. And it did take me by surprise a little bit." Five months later, Daley confirmed he was in fact gay on Celebrity Juice. Tom married Dustin Lance (who his original YouTube video was based on) in May 2017.
Getty ImagesShannon Purser
Stranger Things star Shannon Purser (who plays Barb) came out as bisexual on Twitter in April 2017. She wrote to her followers: "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. It's something I am still processing and trying to understand and I don't like talking about it too much. I'm very very new to the LGBT community..." Needless to say she was met with love from fans. Read Shannon's full coming out story.
Getty ImagesCynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon, who played Miranda in Sex and the City, made the decision to come out after replacing a publicist who encouraged her not to.
Her next publicist thought it was a great idea. Nixon told The Advocate magazine: “I was like, ‘Really, we can just confirm?’. So that’s just what we did. It was so fantastic.” Nixon married Christine Marinoni in 2012.
