Actress Amandla Stenberg has come out as gay. In a new interview with Wonderland, the star opened up about her sexuality and the road she took to become the proud openly gay person that she is today.
The conversation was very detailed. Stenberg recalled having a crush on Mila Kunis, her youth, and finding inspiration to live her truth from fellow stars like Audre Lorde, Prince, Frida Kahlo, and Syd Tha Kid. The Hunger Games actress also spoke about some upcoming projects that she's working on with fellow LGBTQ creatives in the industry.
Stenberg came out as bisexual a couple of years ago. It took her a while to realize that she wasn't. "I was so overcome with this profound sense of relief when I realized that I’m gay – not bi, not pan, but gay – with a romantic love for women," Stenberg told Wonderland. "All of the things that felt so internally contrary to my truest self were rectified as I unravelled a long web of denial and self deprivation."
She went on to explain how she felt when she finally understood who she truly was. "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," Stenberg continued. "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."
Stenberg added: "I'm grateful for how being gay has afforded me this ability to experience and understand love and sex, and therefore life, in an expansive and infinite way. The continual process of unlearning heteronormativity and internalized homophobia can be difficult, but one of the biggest blessings lies in the magic that comes from having to understand love outside the confines of learned heterosexual roles."
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