King Richard star Aunjanue Ellis comes out as bisexual: “This is who I am”
Lovecraft Country star Aunjanue Ellis has publically come out as bisexual. The 53-year-old actor, who recently earned an Academy Award nomination for her work in King Richard, opened up about her sexuality in an exclusive interview with Variety.
In the in-depth conversation, Ellis revealed that she had been out to family, friends, and industry colleagues for years. “The way that I live my life, around the people that I live my life around, I am public about it.
I am very clear about being bisexual,” she explained. “I have a sweatshirt that says ‘Girl Bi’ that I wear everywhere.” When asked why she hadn’t discussed her sexuality sooner or during the press run for King Richard, Ellis stated: “Nobody asked.” Ellis also said that mentioning her bisexuality while promoting the aforementioned movie would have been “artificial.” “How do you work that into the conversation, in the middle of me talking about this movie?” she said. “I’m not that chick.
My job was to talk about King Richard, the Williams family, these wonderful young women I worked with, Will Smith’s incredible work in that movie. “I wasn’t going to be like, ‘And by the way, in case you ain’t heard yet…’ Because that’s artificial.” Even though her Variety interview is the first time that the Sleepy Hollow actor opened up about being bi, it’s far from the first time she’s referenced it in public.
