Raven-Symone Says Falling In Love Helped Her Come Out Lesbian
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | July 27, 2021
In a new interview, actress-singer Raven-Symoné said that falling in love helped her come out publicly as gay.
The former Cosby Show child star came out lesbian in 2013 after refusing to discuss rumors about her sexuality. She married her girlfriend Miranda Pearman-Maday in 2020.
During a roundtable discussion moderated by out journalist Robin Roberts, Raven-Symoné, 35, said that being a public figure informed her decision to remain closeted.
“I've been told I've been a liability,” she told Roberts. “This is what your job is and that's who you are. Especially at that young of an age. Like you have to stay this way, and look this way.”
“I was in love, at the time, with that person, and I was fed up with just closing the door and being myself once the door was closed instead of being told out in public that who I was wasn't brandable.”
“I just feel in love,” she continued. “Oh, OK, I don't have to be 39 before I come out, which is what I thought when I was younger because that was the trend at the time.”
“I don't remember young people my age in the 90s coming out. You only saw an older generation do it,” she said.
Premiering Wednesday on Disney+, Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts also features other out celebrities, including Tig Notaro, Josie Totah, Billie Jean King, and Melissa Etheridge.
Raven-Symoné currently stars in the Disney Channel's Raven's Home.