Alexandra Shipp doesn't think she could have come out five years ago
The 'Tick, Tick... Boom!’ actress revealed in June she is a member of the LGBTQ+community and she felt a "huge weight was lifted" when she spoke out on Instagram and was thankful to receive "only love and celebration" because she feels the world has changed a lot in recent years
24 November 2021
She told Independent.co.uk: “I felt like this huge weight was lifted and I was able to control my narrative. It’s something I don’t think I’d have been able to do five years ago, honestly, but I feel like the world is moving at such a fast pace. I was only met with love and celebration. That felt really good. I guess I had just built it up in my head.”
The 30-year-old star came out to her loved ones two years ago - and was shocked that they weren't surprised as she didn't even fully understand her sexuality.
She said: “By the time I got around to telling people, they were like, ‘Yeah, we know.’”
“I was like, ‘C**, you guys knew the whole time, no one said anything!’ Did I even know?
"I think what I struggled with the most when it came to my sexuality was, am I gay enough to be gay? It took me a long time to find that there’s no right way to be gay or be queer. You are who you are, it’s a spectrum.
"I didn’t have a lot of examples growing up of what it would look like for me. There was always this black and white, binary way of looking at sexuality.
“The more I learn about myself the more I deepen my understanding of what that looks like and how autonomous and individual that experience is. But where I specifically fall on that spectrum, that’s mine. That’s nobody else’s business.”
While the 'Straight Outta Compton' actress believes trans roles should go to trans actors, she doesn't think gay roles should only go to LGBTQ+actors.
She said: “When it comes to cis actors playing trans roles, that’s a problem for me. Trans actors should be hired to play trans roles.
"But to look at an actor and say, ‘Hmm, well you’re not gay,’ to me just doesn’t make any sense, because we don’t know who they are. We really don’t. And they shouldn’t have to explain that to us. There’s no right way to be gay. If we keep that narrative going, we keep people like myself in the closet.”
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