Hayley Kiyoko says it was a "journey" to be "proud" of who she is

She explained: "They thought it was a phase. Then I had my heart broken when I was 16, shaved off my hair and locked myself in my bedroom for a week. That was when they realised it was really affecting me and it was real. It took some time to be comfortable bringing a girl home and be, like, 'This is who I'm seeing!' It's one thing to know who you are, but to be proud of who you are is a huge journey."

And the 28-year-old singer and actress says the music industry was "unresponsive" and "critical" of her want to express her sexuality through her music.

Speaking to The Sunday Times' Style magazine, she added: "Unresponsive at first. I had a lot of criticism. 'Oh you're gonna do another video about girls?' It's like, my sexuality hasn't changed. It's not a concept. I wasn't getting that support from the male ex ecutives specifically, because most ex ecutives are men. Life is full of rejection. You have to push through those doors to create opportunities for yourself.

"I noticed [the double standards] when I was growing up that if men were attracted to you, you did better and had more support when you were starting out, which really messed with my head. Now, I've found a community that loves me for me, and I've proved that you don't need to attract certain types of people to be successful in the music industry, but to become a bigger artist I still have more to go, more people to convince."