Bella Thorne comes out as pansexual — like these other celebrities
Bella Thorne opened up about her sexuality in a new interview, revealing for the first time that she identifies as pansexual.
In an interview with Good Morning America to promote her new book, The Life of a Wannabe Mogul: Mental Disarray, the Disney Channel alum said while she had considered herself bisexual, coming out in 2016, that changed when she heard the term pansexual, which means she is attracted to all gender identities.
“I’m actually pansexual and I didn’t know that,” Thorne, 21, said. “Somebody explained to me really thoroughly what that is.”
She went on to say that for her, “You like beings. You like what you like. Doesn’t have to be a girl or a guy or a he or she or they or this or that. It’s literally you like personality. You just like a being.”
Pansexual isn’t a new term, but GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told USA Today that we are hearing it more often because younger generations seem to be identifying as pansexual more and more. The org defines it as someone who is “attracted to all genders and sexes.” Here are some celebrities who identify as pansexual:
Miley Cyrus coming out as pansexual in 2015 really put a spotlight on the pan identity. She had said that she is “literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn’t involve an animal and everyone is of age. Everything that’s legal, I’m down with. Yo, I’m down with any adult — anyone over the age of 18 who is down to love me. I don’t relate to being boy or girl, and I don’t have to have my partner relate to boy or girl.”
While the 26-year-old singer and actress married longtime love Liam Hemsworth last year and is “in a hetero relationship,” she said in a recent interview that she’s still “very sexually attracted to women.” She explained that her marriage is “complex” and “modern” — and she doesn’t think “we’re in a place” in the world “where people would get it.”
For the record, she prefers not to be called “wife” in her marriage. It’s “partner.”
Janelle Monáe is also pansexual. The singer and actress told Rolling Stone last year that she, like Thorne, identified as bisexual until she heard of the more inclusive identity.
“I read about pansexuality and was like, ‘Oh, these are things that I identify with too,’” said the 33-year-old, who has been in relationships with men and women. “I’m open to learning more about who I am.”
She said she considers herself “to be a free-ass motherf***er” when it comes to love.
Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie, who teamed up with Taylor Swift for her LGBTQ anthem “You Need to Calm Down,” is married to a woman, but he said that love is love — no matter who it’s with.
“I'm married to a woman and I'm very much in love with her but I'm not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person,” he said last year. “Yeah I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don't care.”
As if that wasn’t clear, he added: "I guess this is me coming out as pansexual."
Billions star Asia Kate Dillon plays the first non-binary main character on a North American TV show. Off-screen, they identify as pansexual, but it has changed along the way.
“I think I came out as bi, then gay, then bi again, then queer, then I eventually I was with a woman and then I fell in love with a man and I just went, ‘God, f*** it! I don’t — I’m whatever. I’m pansexual, I’m attracted — I have the ability to be attracted to anyone, anything and have been and you know,’” they said on New York Public Radio.
Dillon, 34, went on to say, “Me struggling with my sexual orientation was actually me struggling with my gender identity and not understanding that. Because I was going, ‘Am I woman that likes women? Am I man that likes women? Am I a man that likes men? Am I ...’ Finally it was like, ‘I’ve just always been a person that liked people.’ And I think if it’d had the language or understanding about my gender identity earlier ... I feel like my sexual orientation journey would have been very different.”
Model Tess Holliday recently came out as pansexual.
She said that after doing a lot of “thinking a lot about my relationship to my own queerness,” she decided that “the word pansexual speaks to me more than bi does.”
Holliday, 34, added, “I feel like a lot of stuff in my life now makes sense. A lot of the things that I felt when I was younger make sense. A lot of the relationships that I had make sense.”
Jazz Jennings, whose life as a transgender girl was documented on TLC’s I Am Jazz, has also said she is pansexual.
“I mostly like people for their personality; I don’t care if they’re gay, bi, trans, whatever they are,” she said.
These folks are among many celebrities who have opened up about their broader definitions of sexuality — like singer Jason Mraz, who revealed last year that he had relationships with men as well as women prior to marrying his wife.
“It was like, ‘Wow, does that mean I am gay?’ And my wife laid it out for me,” he said. “She calls it ‘Two Spirit,’ which is what the Native Americans call someone who can love both man and woman."
Many others have spoken about eschewing labels altogether — including Amber Heard (“I'm a person. I like who I like”), Sarah Paulson (“I refuse to give any kind of label just to satisfy what people need”), Kesha (“ I love people. It’s not about a gender”), Sophie Turner (“I love a soul, not a gender”) and Sia (“I don’t care what gender you are, it’s about people. I’ve always been … flexible”).
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