Celebrity Coming Out Stories That Will Make You Cry Tears of Pride

We’re kicking things off with perhaps one of the more notable coming out stories we’ve witnessed in the last ten years. And that is, of course, the deeply moving speech Ellen Page delivered back in 2014 at the Time to Thrive conference to promote the welfare of LGBTQ+ youth held at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

During her nearly ten minutes long speech, Page reflects on her time in the spotlight following the success of her breakout role in Juno, and how the attention forced her to hide even further from her true identity. The actress and activist highlighted the harsh industry standards that often impact those in the LGBTQ+ community while acknowledging her inner battle with her sexuality outside of the complications Hollywood life brings. Among the many emotional moments of her speech, Page delivered her most powerful (albeit tearful) declaration by stating, "I am tired of hiding, and I am tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered, and my relationships suffered. And I'm standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain."

Her story may not bring you to tears, but you can’t help but fall for Lili Reinhart even more after she came out as bisexual on her Instagram story at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020. While sharing a post for an LGBTQ+ for #BlackLivesMatter protest, Reinhart captioned the story by stating, “Although I've never announced it publicly before, I am a proud bisexual woman.” After coming out, Reinhart, who publically dated her Riverdale co-star, Cole Sprouse, on and off again for two years, told several media publications that she was reluctant to share her sexuality with the world. She felt bisexuality had become somewhat of a trend in Hollywood. She also feared the judgement would come in droves. "I felt that since I've exclusively been in hetero-normative relationships, it would be too easy for any outsider, especially the media, to vilify me and accuse me of faking it to get attention, and that's not something I wanted to deal with.”

Another star who shared her truth with the world this year is Niecy Nash. The comedian, actress and television host shocked fans when she posted an Instagram photo walking down the aisle to marry her friend, singer-songwriter Jessica Betts. The image was captioned with, “Ms. Carol Denise Betts" and the hashtag #LoveWins. Nash, who had been married twice prior, matter-of-factly expanded on her sexuality, expressing, “My marriage has absolutely nothing to do with gender, and it has everything to do with her soul." And when it comes to fans who felt shocked by the news, Nash had this to say, "I was not suppressing my sexuality my whole life. I love who I love. At one point in my life, I married twice, and I love those people. And today, I love this person. I've done everything I wanted to do on my own terms and my own way. So my choice now in a partner has nothing to do with who I've always been. It's a matter of who I am in this moment."

What’s interesting about Sarah Paulson is that she’s always been out, having dated both men and women publically since being in the spotlight as an actress. However, the point of interest most folks tend to hone in on is the vast age gap between Paulson and her partners. She was engaged to playwright Tracey Letts who was nine years older than her, and she dated actress Cherry Jones who was eighteen years older than her, for more than seven years. But the real shocker was the bond that struck between Paulson and actress Holland Taylor, who is 32 years her senior. And while Paulson hasn’t necessarily had to come out in the same sense as others who reach her level of fame, she addressed her sexuality and the age difference between her and her patterns with genuine honesty. “There’s a poignancy to being with someone older,” she’s said. “I think there’s a greater appreciation of time and what you have together and what’s important, and it can make the little things seem very small. It puts a kind of sharp light mixed with a sort of diffused light on something. I can’t say it any other way than there’s a poignancy to it, and a heightened sense of time and the value of time.”

When Alex Denver’s character came out during the second season of Supergirl, actress Chyler Leigh found peace facing her own sexual identity. She used the power of the show as the driving force to address her fans, and the world, about the role she plays in the LGBTQ+ community. Leigh chose to speak to her fans through an organization she co-founded with Angelo Lagdameo and her husband Nath West called Create Change. She delivered an honest proclamation that beautifully described what it felt like to be on the other end of a coming out story. Leigh elaborates, “My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest each take we filmed, every time presenting another opportunity to get those honest words out of my mouth. Though they don’t exactly match my personal dialogue, the heart behind it surely did.”

Not one to shy away from conversations that can make others uncomfortable, Ashley Frangipane, better known as the singer Halsey, has been upfront with her bisexuality from the beginning of her career in 2015 and has taken to the media to defend herself and the community on more than one occasion. But it wasn’t until the singer was honoured with the Outstanding Music Artist title at the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards that she decided to make it clear that coming out as bisexual is not without its difficulties. During her video acceptance speech, Halsey had this to say on the subject, “I’m a young, bisexual woman, and I’ve spent a large part of my life trying to validate myself — to my friends, to my family, to myself — trying to prove that who I love and how I feel is not a phase; it’s not part of some confusion that’s going to change or could be manipulated.”

In 2019, Sense8 star, Brian J. Smith opened up about his sexuality for the first time in public. When posing for a cover story on Attitude magazine, Smith very candidly came out and described the long journey it had taken to get to the comfort level he is at now. Having grown up in Texas, Smith found himself facing bullies that chipped away at his self worth on an on-going basis. “I could never be who I was. I was constantly having to check myself and make sure I wasn’t looking at someone too long or making someone feel uncomfortable,” he said. Smith wasn’t ready to reveal his sexuality to his parents until he was 30, but their response may have taken him by surprise, and in fact, it also encouraged him to embrace parts of himself he had been closed off from. “They said they were just waiting for me to say something. They were a lot more advanced than I gave them credit for. I think that’s when I became OK with it, too. Just in terms of being, ‘Oh that’s the world, it’s not as dangerous as I thought it was.’”

It was also in 2019 that singer Sam Smith came out as non-binary. In a conversation with Jameela Jamil on her Instagram-based series I Weigh Interviews, Smith credits listening to discussions about being non-binary as the catalyst for coming to terms with his identity. As someone who has been incredibly open about his sexuality, Smith realized it was time to get just as comfortable with conversations about gender and how he identifies there as well. “I’ve sometimes sat and questioned, do I want a sex change? It’s something I still think about: ‘Do I want to?’ I don’t think it is,” Smith told Jamil during the interview. “When I saw the word non-binary, genderqueer, and I read into it, and I heard these people speaking, I was like, ‘Fuck, that is me.’”

The breakout start of Lady Bird and Booksmart, Beanie Feldstein has been open in the past about her complete lack of interest in relationships. Funnily enough, her brother Jonah Hill has been quoted as referring to her as the “Dexter of relationships,” in the sense that she has a big heart and is super loving, but just can’t seem to translate that love into a relationship with meaning. But that all seemed to change when she fell in love with producer Bonnie Chance Roberts while working on her upcoming film, How to Build a Girl. Not one to publicly announce her sexuality, Feldstein kept the news of the relationship incredibly earnest with one very simple statement. “Not to sound flippant, but I was in love with her and all of her, and she’s a woman. That’s not scaring me or deterring me. And it wasn’t just women in general; it was her specifically.”

Rapper Lil Nas X has credited his fame for helping him overcome the negative feelings he previously experienced while accepting he was gay. The "Old Town Road" singer took to Twitter to let his fans know that they should listen to the song “C7osure” carefully. For him, the song represents his coming out and the significance of allowing his audience to know where he stands musically and sexually lined up perfectly with the end of Global Pride Month in June 2019. The singers coming out story was met with widespread surprise from both fans and the media, but in an episode of HBO's The Shop: Uninterrupted, Lil Nas X spoke out about the positive impact of coming out at the height of your fame.

"If for me, the 'cool dude with the song on top of everything,' to say this at any other time, I'm doing this for attention in my eyes. But if you're doing this while you're at the top, you know it's for real. It's showing it doesn't really matter, I guess."

Actress Amandla Stenberg sat down with genderqueer singer King Princess to discuss the long journey to come into her own sexual identity. Having come out previously as bisexual during a Snapchat interview with Teen Vogue in 2016, Stenberg realized two years later that she was, in fact, gay and was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. In speaking with King Princess (whom she would go on to date for the majority of 2018), Stenberg described the process of coming out all over again — but this time, to herself.

“I was flooded with a sense of calm and peace because everything that I struggled with or felt discomfort around finally made sense to me. And once those floodgates opened and years of pent up pain and shame were released, I found the freedom to live my best life waiting for me just underneath.”

If you’re familiar with The Try Guys, then you likely know all about Eugene Lee Yang’s incredibly moving coming out video he released in 2019. Although the YouTube personality had always identified as queer, the music video he wrote, choreographed and directed was appropriately titled “I’m Gay” to make it abundantly clear to his fans and newbies alike that he identifies as gay. The project was used as a fundraiser for the The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that aims to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth. Yang took to Twitter on the day of the video's release and had this to say, “I created this music video as my personal way of coming out as a proud gay man who has many unheard, specific stories to tell. I withheld because of fear and shame shaped by my background, but I promise to give my full truth in the rest of my life’s work.”

Actor and singer Billy Porter came out back in 1985. But when he graced the cover of Gay Times during the summer of 2019, he took the opportunity to think back on what it was like to come out as a Black, gay man during a decade when homosexuality was not met with the same wide embrace is often follows today. In the interview, Porter reflects on the importance of removing yourself from toxic environments and extracting yourself from the people that don’t know how to love you. On the heavier side of things, Porter was forthcoming in expressing his belief that we don’t necessarily need love from those who don’t understand us in order to exist. Instead, he explains, "We need respect for our humanity. We demand respect for our humanity, and we will give respect for everyone else so that we can all move forward. Everybody’s humanity is valid, even if we don’t understand it or like it. That’s what I would tell my younger self and anybody today that you must do. You must break free. It’s the only way you will survive."

When watching the hit television series Schitt’s Creek, you may be quick to think that Dan Levy has always been out and proud since he plays his character, David, with such ease and humour, but that isn’t the case. Levy, who created the show with his famous father, Eugene Levy, reflected on his experience as a teenager in the closet while accepting the Davidson/Valentini Award at the GLAAD Gala in San Francisco in 2019. During his speech, which he delivered in front of several of his Schitt’s Creek co-stars, including Annie Murphy, Emily Hampshire, Noah Reid and Sarah Levy (Levy’s sister who introduced him prior to his acceptance speech), the star spoke to the pain of hiding his sexuality while falling in love with his best friend as a teen. This experience helped shape his coming out to a supportive group of family and friends. And for his part, he credits the show he built with his father as a means of helping future youth accept who they are with positivity and grace. “When I found myself in a position to tell stories on a global scale, I seized the opportunity to make a television show that might, in its own way, offer some support, encouragement and love to those who might not have it in their homes or in their schools or in their day-to-day lives,” Levy said. “It’s a place where acceptance incubates joy and creates clarity that allows people to see themselves and each other more deeply. It’s fiction, yes. But I’ve always been told to lead by example, and this felt like a good place to start.”

She’s been in the spotlight since she hit the stage and screen in the ‘60s, but make no mistake about it, Holland Taylor doesn’t feel the need to “come out.” The actress has publicly dated women throughout her career and never felt the need to address it with her fans or the media; it just sort of is. But when she began dating Sarah Paulson, reporters and fans alike began to buzz around with more questions about the 32-year age gap than the fact that they are both women. But addressing those questions also forced her to acknowledge coming out. In speaking to with WNYC, Holland had this to say, “... I’ve been really wrestling with this lately because most of my relationships have been with women and I don’t like talking about them because I don’t like talking about the politics of it all because I’m not political about it. I think we’re ridiculous in this country about it. Ridiculous. And so, it’s awkward because if I talk about relationships in my life or people that have been in my life, or somebody I’ve been seeing for a while or this, that and the other thing, I’d like to be able to just say that, without having to stop and say, ‘so have you come out?’ No, I haven’t come out because I am out. I live out.”

It’s no secret that the hip hop community isn’t always as warm and welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community as they’d like to appear to be. So, when Frank Ocean came out as bisexual, the positive response from his friends and colleagues may have sent reassuring waves to those his message impacts the most. Ocean’s sexuality wasn’t a topic of interest until a journalist asked the singer about several lyrics that point to a male companion throughout the tracks featured on his debut album, Channel Orange. Ocean took the opportunity to post a sincerely fervent open letter to the public on his website that beautifully described himself coming to terms with his past so he could remain happy in the present.

Actress Shannon Purser found herself in the throws of internet protests after her character Barb was gruesomely killed off on Stranger Things. With that fame came a digging into her past and present so fans could learn more about the rising star. But it wasn’t until her appearance on Riverdale that Purser would feel the need to address her sexuality with the public. After a kiss between Betty and Veronica aired, Purser began tweeting her support of a relationship between the two characters while fans were chirping away about the episode on the platform.

Riverdale has been accused of “queerbaiting” on more than one occasion, often pushing the boundaries of characters' sexuality identities, but never fully coming through on the subject matter. As many fans began to come for Purser and call her out for tone-deaf tweets, the star took the opportunity to come out.

"I don't normally do this, but I figure now is as good a time as any to get personal," Purser tweeted. "I've only just recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends. It's something I am still processing and trying to understand, and I don't like talking about it too much. I'm very, very new to the LGBTQ community." She dove a bit deeper by expressing, "Getting comfortable with your sexuality is a process. It's going to be ok. I wish I'd known that sooner. Another thing I wish I'd known about sexuality is to take it slow. It can define you as much as you want it to."

In an interview with i-D Magazine , Pose star Indya Moore, who is openly trans and non-binary, spoke to the challenging experience of coming out. The star who goes by they/them pronouns explicitly referred to their mother's adverse reaction, claiming she went as far as pushing them towards conversation therapy under the pretence of “it wasn’t normal to be gay.” It was then that they realized acceptance and self-love was a journey they would have to go alone, and after coming out on the other end of it, Moore had this to say, "I went through hell to get here, and I'd go through it again because I love who I am. I carry so much of who I was inside of who I am now, and although I've suffered a lot of trauma, I still manage to love myself enough to be as brave as I was then."

If you only got to know Neil Parick Harris as his character Barney on How I Met Your Mother, then there’s no way in hell you would know he is a very out and proud gay man. After all, Barney is the quintessential bro and lady-killer, a far stretch from who Harris is in real life. In 2006, the star came out as gay by letting his fans and the world know, "I am happy to dispel any rumours or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

In 2017, Keiynan Lonsdale, star of The Flash and Love, Simon came out as bisexual on Instagram by explaining, “I like to change my hair, I like to take risks with how I dress, I like girls, and I like guys (yes), I like growing, I like learning, I like who I am, and I really like who I'm becoming." The actor credits his time on the set of Love, Simon as the inspiration to help him come out, especially since he was dating a man at the time and hiding it from his castmates, a direct reflection of the plotline of the film he was involved in. In an interview with The Hollywood Report, Lonsdale expanded on his experience, "Before we got to the filming wrap party, we just went out for drinks. Like, all the cast and I. I don't even know how I said it, but I just said it to the group, and they were, of course, really supportive, and I explained to them that I wish I had said something earlier. It was great. It's an interesting thing to go through that kind of growth and learn those lessons while your character is also learning those lessons. I'm very thankful for it."