13 of the biggest and most influential celebrity coming out stories of 2019
Celebrities have been loud and proud this year about joining the LGBT+ community. (Getty Images)
As the end of 2019 looms and the season of reflection and nostalgia begins, we’ve rounded up the boldest coming out stories from celebrities who have proudly and publicly told the world they’re part of the LGBT+ community.
It feels like 2019 permanently has a rainbow over it because this year has been full of beautiful coming out stories.
Celebrities have confidently been sharing their sexuality and gender identities with the world, through social media posts, YouTube videos and even making headlines – we’re looking at you, Sam Smith.
Watch 2019’s biggest and best celebrity coming out stories:
Sam Smith came out as non-binary.
What a year for the singer of Dancing with a Stranger, who has been very open and honest about their identity.
In March, Smith came out as non-binary to Jameela Jamil in an interview for her show I Weigh. They said: “I’m not male or female, I think I flow somewhere in between.”
A few months later in September, Smith shared that they go by they/them pronouns through an Instagram post. They captioned the post: “After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out.”
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Lil Nas X teased us with a tweet.
The country and western rapper firstly had everybody singing his hit ‘Old Town Road’ but then moved on to everybody talking about his sexuality.
Lil Nas X wanted to celebrate the end of American Pride month by coming out, he tweeted: “Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more but before this month ends I want y’all to listen closely to c7osure.” Lyrics to this song include: “This is what I gotta do, can’t be regretting when I’m old.”
He quickly followed that up with another tweet referencing his album 7’s artwork which features a cityscape lit up in rainbow lights that hints at the LGBTQ flag: “deadass thought I made it obvious,” it reads.
some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure. ??✨ pic.twitter.com/O9krBLllqQ
— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019
Bella Thorne came out as pansexual.
Bella Thorne is open about her sexuality as earlier in 2016 she came out as bisexual but this year in an interview with Good Morning America, the actress revealed that she is “actually pansexual”.
She said: “You like beings, you like what you like. Doesn’t have to be a girl, or a guy, a he, a she, a they, or this or that. It’s literally… you like personality. You just like a being.”
Dan Howell said: ‘Basically I’m Gay.’
2019 makes coming out history for being the year where Dan Howell decided to come out as gay rather than everyone else doing it for him. The YouTuber has faced speculation for years but in July in a YouTube video titled ‘Basically I’m Gay’ he shared the truth about his sexuality and explained why he hasn’t up until now.
Lilly Singh tweeted that she’s bisexual.
Another YouTuber’s coming out story, Lilly Singh told her 5.8 million twitter followers that she is bisexual.
Singh revealed her sexuality by simply tweeting “Female, coloured, bisexual”.
✅ Female
✅ Coloured
✅ Bisexual
Throughout my life these have proven to be obstacles from time to time. But now I’m fully embracing them as my superpowers.No matter how many “boxes” you check, I encourage you to do the same x
❤️????
— Lilly Singh (@Lilly) February 25, 2019
Jonathan Van Ness came out as non-binary and living with HIV.
The much-adored Jonathan Van Ness came out earlier this year as non-binary, telling Out magazine that “somedays I feel like a boy and somedays I feel like a girl”. The Queer Eye icon also revealed that he still prefers he/him pronouns. In September this year, Jonathan Van Ness also opened up about living with HIV.
Willow Smith came out as bisexual AND polyamorous.
Willow Smith killed two birds with one stone and came out as bisexual and polyamorous at the same time. If that wasn’t enough she revealed it all in front of her mother and her grandmother – no biggie, Willow.
Saying “I love men and women equally and so I would definitely want one man, one woman,” on an episode of Red Table Talk, a Facebook Watch series hosted by Smith’s mother.
On the show, she and her family openly talk about “controversial topics”, Willow Smith came out on an episode focused on Unconventional Relationships – her mum was onboard however her grandmother took a bit more convincing on having multiple relationships.
We’re celebrating Willow Smith’s coming out by whipping our hair!
Disney actor Joshua Rush tweeted about being bi.
Disney Channel Star Joshua Rush came out as bisexual in August through a set of emotional tweets.
“It’s me, I’m bi,” Rush wrote. “I stuffed the existential crisis of talking about my sexual orientation into a box in my mind for years. Today, I release it into the world.”
Rush made history playing Cyrus on Andi Mack because it was Disney Channel’s first openly gay character, something he found ironic because he “suffered with some level of my own internalized homophobia”.
first to respond to this tweet is bi lol
— joshua rush (@JoshuaRush) August 6, 2019
Drag Race queen Valentina is a ‘goddess’.
RuPaul’s Drag Race queen Valentina has come out as non-binary in an interview with Out magazine. Miss Congeniality of season nine revealed that “I don’t completely feel like a man, I don’t completely feel like a woman. I feel like a goddess. I feel like I’m my own gender.”
Valentina is not the first queen from Drag Race to be open about identifying outside of the gender binary, Jinkx Monsoon and Aja identify as non-binary and Courtney Act shared that they identify as genderfluid.
The Politician‘s Ben Platt is out and proud.
It has been a big queer year for Ben Platt, starring in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series The Politician and sharing his sexuality with the world. The actor came out after releasing a music video where he had a male love interest.
In an interview with People magazine, Platt said “I’ve been out since I was 12 years old to my family and anyone in my life,” he says. “I’ve never sort of hidden that or been ashamed by it. It’s just part of me.”
Tess Holiday had an awkward encounter.
Model Tess Holiday proudly opened up about being pansexual in July, she told a hilarious story about the first time she came out where a man at a bar asked: “Are you bi?” To which she replied, “I’ve been thinking a lot about my relationship to my own queerness, and I think the word pansexual speaks to me more than bi does.”
Turns out she misheard the question and the man actually asked if she was buying anything.
Som Hein posted a cute photo on Instagram.
K-Pop idol Som Hein came out as bisexual by posting an intimate photo with her girlfriend on Instagram.
In her coming out post, Som Hein was sharing a kiss on the cheek with her girlfriend and then a few days later, she uploaded another photo showing herself holding hands with her partner, which she captioned ‘My lovely girl’ in both Korean and English.
Khadi Don wore a ‘Everybody’s gay’ t-shirt.
Lastly, Khadi Don’s coming out story was a moment when she proudly shared that she’s gay on YouTube through a video simply titled I’m Gay.
“To me, it’s pretty f****ing obvious,” she said looking down the camera to her 357k followers. Khadi Don even dressed up to the momentous and proud coming out by wearing a suitable t-shirt which read ‘Everbody’s gay’.
