Janelle Monáe Reveals She Was “Terrified” to Come Out

In an interview with LGBT+ magazine ‘Them’ singer and actress Janelle Monáe revealed she was terrified to publically come out.

“I had anxiety. And a lot of it was just untrue,” she said.

“I’m thankful that I didn’t allow that fear to get in the way of my freedom.”

“To be young, queer, and black in America means that you can be misunderstood,” she added. “I just hope we can get to a point where black women who don’t identify as strictly heterosexual are normalised.”

She pointed out that growing up in a small Kansas town also added to her anxieties about coming out: “I grew up there, in a very small town, and I went to a Baptist church; to be anything other than heterosexual is a sin in that community, and growing up, I was always told I’d go to hell if I was.”

She added that she hoped that by coming out she could help others who were struggling with their sexual orientation: “I think that by being the example, we make it a little easier for kids to be able to talk to their loved ones about it,” she said. “When they’re trying to talk to their parents and their parents don’t see that representation out in the real world and people being accepted like that – it’s foreign to them.”

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