Broad City’s Ilana Glazer explains how being pregnant made her realise she’s non-binary

Broad City actor Ilana Glazer has reflected on how becoming pregnant with her first child made her realise that she is non-binary. 

Glazer, who uses both she and they pronouns, announced in March 2021 that she was pregnant with her first child with her partner, scientist David Rooklin.

Their daughter was born in July that year.

Speaking to The Independent, the Tony Award-winning A Strange Loop star explained that they had always been in touch with their masculinity, but felt they had to “hide or make a joke” of it.

Becoming pregnant, they added, helped them to “be real” with themself about how they identify.

“Being pregnant on paper was the most female thing I could ever do, but it actually highlighted both the masculine and feminine inside of me,” the star explained.

“For so long, my masculinity felt like something I had to hide or make a joke of, and my femininity was something that felt like drag. There was always this element of comedy to it that was limiting my genuine personal experience.

“Then this gift of being pregnant made space for me to be real with myself,” she continued, adding that identifying as non-binary feels like “more a point in the process of a long journey of self-actualisation.”

“I’m moving through the world in a way that’s truer,” she noted.

Glazer also identifies as queer, and has previously shared how their career-defining role on Comedy Central’s Broad City helped them to realise it.

Glazer played the weed-smoking, perpetually work avoidant Ilana Wexler in the sitcom between 2014 and 2019. They were nominated for four Emmy awards for the role.

Speaking to In Studio back in 2020, Glazer said that both she and her co-star Abbi Jacobson realised more about their identity through working on the show. 

“My queerness has been kind of shown to me through Broad City, and Abbi, too,” they shared.

“We’ve both experienced this unique, privileged version of self-actualisation, where we’ve gotten to work it out on the show and then reflect and be like, ‘Damn, I wasn’t joking. That was me.’

“So, I’ve learned a lot from Broad City, including my own queerness and identity politics from reviews and reading people’s pieces,” they added.

Glazer most recently starred alongside Michelle Buteau in the comedy film Babes, about a woman helping her best friend through becoming pregnant after a one-night stand.

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