Coming out is always a brave thing to do regardless of who you are in society. The focus of this topic usually hones in on the ones who talk about being part of the LGBTQ spectrum while embracing their true selves in the process.
Something that isn’t discussed as much are the people who reveal that they don’t put a label on their sexuality. Australian actor Hugh Sheridan spoke about this in his recently penned essay after years of speculation about his sexuality.
“I’ve never felt I really knew who I was and I didn’t like the sounds of the labels that people were giving me so I decided to say nothing,” he said before talking about how COVID changed his mind on the matter.
“Lockdown gave me time to reflect and it occurred to me that no one ever sticks up for people who don’t pick a label. Some people are working things out slower than others,” he continued while adding that he was “never ashamed” of his sexuality. “There must be a lot more people out there who feel how I feel – like the words still don’t fit.”
Hugh is far from the only male celebrity who have proudly discussed being label less over the years. Here are three more who have done the same.
Josh Hutcherson
The former Hunger Games star raised eyebrows when he candidly spoke about his sexuality during a 2013 interview with Out Magazine.
“I would probably list myself as mostly straight,” he said. “Maybe I could say right now I’m 100% straight. But who knows? In a f**king year, I could meet a guy and be like, Whoa, I’m attracted to this person.”
“Um. I guess I have been asked? But, I dunno. Why?” he responded. “It’s not like I’m sitting on an answer, and protecting it, and holding it back. It’s not a case of: ‘I’m not telling you ’cause I don’t want to tell you.’ It’s not: ‘Ooh, this is mine and it’s not yours.’ It’s: ‘Who cares?’ Does that make sense? It’s just: ‘Who cares?’”
The “Watermelon Sugar” singer also spoke on that, if he doesn’t explicitly identify as queer, then he might be capitalizing on unearned praise from LGBTQ fans. “Am I sprinkling in nuggets of sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No,” he said.
“In terms of how I wanna dress, and what the album sleeve’s gonna be, I tend to make decisions in terms of collaborators I want to work with,” he continued. “I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool.”
“And more than that, I dunno, I just think sexuality’s something that’s fun. Honestly? I can’t say I’ve given it any more thought than that,” Harry also added.
Conan Grey
Conan is a former YouTuber turned musician who released his debut studio album earlier this year. He, just like the others mentioned in this list, has been hit with questions about his sexuality for quite sometime now.
It got to the point where he went on an expletive-ridden matter on Twitter where he rejected the gay tag and stated that people should stop trying to put labels on his sexuality.
“Y’all are so annoying all y’all ever wanna do is place a label on me just let me f***in exist what the f**k,” he wrote on Twitter. “Here’s the f***ing deal. If labels on sexuality and gender and beliefs and all that great stuff are helpful for u, I’m all for it. U do u. But the second you start trying to shove everyone else into a neat little easy to understand box, I get mad. Stop! Please! F***ing Stop!”