Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning reveals moment she ‘should’ve known she was gay’

Baby Reindeer actress Jessica Gunning in a white and silver dress, smiling.

Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning, who came out as “a big, old, gay” in June, has revealed the moment she “should’ve known she’s gay”. 

British actress Gunning became a household name after starring in controversial Netflix series Baby Reindeer, in which she plays a woman who stalks an aspiring comedian.

She first opened up about coming out earlier this year, on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast. Now, in time for National Coming Out Day on Friday (11 October), she has said she “should have known” that she was gay before the age of 36. 

In a question-and-answer session with fans of the 2014 film Pride, set during the miners’ strikes in the 80s, she shared how the film shaped her identity. “I realised I actually hadn’t seen the film since coming out, so I said I would love to be there and watch it,” she shared.

Jessica Gunning plays Martha in Netflix hit Baby Reindeer.
Jessica Gunning plays Martha in Netflix hit Baby Reindeer. (Netflix)

“It was really emosh. I have always obviously been a big, old gay but it took me 36 years to realise it. As I was watching me on the screen, I was like: ‘I am gay there’. I should have known in hindsight because I cried so much during that film, all the time, even in my audition.

As I left the first audition, I said to Stephen [Beresford], the writer: ‘This is the best thing I have ever read’. I cried my t**s off.

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“If I knew when I was doing Pride that I would be here, 10 years on, feeling the most myself I have ever felt, and the most welcome in a room like this, I would have been very proud indeed.”

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