Bisexual Disney star Dove Cameron confirms her Liv and Maddie characters were ‘definitely’ queer
Dove Cameron. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty)
Disney Channel star Dove Cameron is setting the record straight on some of her most iconic characters – they were queer.
The bisexual actor is best-known for playing played identical twins in the Disney Channel’s Liv and Maddie, which ran from 2013 to 2017, and more recently for playing Maleficent’s daughter Mal in Descendants 3.
Fans have speculated in the past that one or both characters in Liv and Maddie could be queer – and Cameron finally put that speculation to bed in a series of tweets posted on Wednesday (7 October).
The actor made the revelation after sharing a fan meme about the two Disney Channel characters.
When a fan replied: “Still not convinced Liv was straight,” Cameron replied: “Maddie was definitely gay.”
me when i date a man / me when i date a woman https://t.co/gPggOXyN8g
— Dove Cameron (@DoveCameron) October 7, 2020
maddie was definitely gay https://t.co/qC6OKhBVig— Dove Cameron (@DoveCameron) October 7, 2020
Another fan replied: “Okay but LIV was a LESBIAN,” to which Cameron simply stated: “Liv was bi.”
Cameron also went on to assign queer identities to other characters she has played, telling fans that Mal, Maleficent’s daughter in Descendants 3, was pansexual, and revealing that Ruby on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was asexual.
However, she does not see all of her characters as being queer. When asked about the sexuality of Bekah Cotter, her character in the Netflix film Dumplin’, Cameron said she was straight.
Disney has come under fire from fans for its reluctance to represent queer characters.
Disney has long faced criticism for its lack of openly LGBT+ characters, with fans instead left looking for signs of queercoding – subtle hints about a character’s queer identity that won’t deter straight viewers.
But this is finally starting to change. In August, the channel made history with a long-awaited bisexual lead character in The Owl House.
The network previously made strides when teenage Andi Mack character Cyrus Goodman came out as gay.
However, there was some backlash when the series was axed in 2019, with some suggesting the decision was related to the exploration of Cyrus’s sexuality.
Cameron came out as bisexual in 2017 by liking a tweet asking her to “like this if bisexual”.
