The famous-for-being-fired former Danity Kane singer, Aubrey O’Day, attempts to set the record straight concerning her “bisexuality” when she talks to
Advocate writer Brandon Voss about her new Oxygen Network reality show,
All About Aubrey, and her penchant for publicity.
According to Aubrey, she just hates labels and feels very strongly connected LGBT causes and equality; but she cites a scene from Chasing Amy, the Kevin Smith film about a lesbian who falls for Ben Affleck (famously offensive to lesbians everywhere), as evidence to support her own line of reasoning. We are so not buying it…
Check out these choice quotes from O’Day regarding her sexuality and see for yourself:
Speaking of publicity, you gave some very coy interviews regarding your sexuality in early 2009, saying things like, “I don’t like labels.” That, of course, turned into headlines that read, “Is Aubrey bisexual?” With all due respect, I didn’t buy any of it. Are you truly bisexual, or was that just a ploy to get more media attention?
Honestly, the whole thing started when I was on a red carpet in New York the day Prop. 8 was passed. Now, I’ve grown up with gay people my entire life. My first baby-sitter was a black man with AIDS who lived in our house, and I watched him die. He was one of my mom’s closest friends, and he was everything to me. I was brought up in a very liberal, accepting family, so I was very exposed to the gay community and to HIV and AIDS awareness, which spawned my own charity, FAN, Fight AIDS Now, which targets youth AIDS internationally. I was seriously offended by the Prop. 8 decision, so I grabbed my friend, who felt the same way, and told her, “Hold my hand and walk down this red carpet.” I just felt responsible to stand up for something that I believed in, which is that everyone deserves equal rights. That was my message that night, but it got turned into “Aubrey and her girlfriend parading around New York” on the blogs, and then all those questions started coming up in interviews.
Why didn’t you explain your original message instead of adopting a bisexual persona? On Chelsea Lately, for example, you said, “There’s no preference right now,” and that you’d be Portia de Rossi’s “girlfriend and slave.”
I’m very honest when it comes to answering questions, and I strongly feel everything I said, which is that I don’t like labels. But could I end up with a woman? I love the movie Chasing Amy, where the lesbian character basically tells Ben Affleck that she doesn’t need to be defined by one thing or by what she’s been told to want her whole life. You can find love, commitment, and your best friend in anyone, so why would I limit myself to a certain segment of the population? So I still stand by everything that I said. It wasn’t a ploy for attention.
Can you understand why it might have seemed disingenuous to some people at the time?
I do understand that we’re in a time where tons of young paparazzi-driven celebrities are running around with their sexuality all over the place, and everyone does little gimmicks to get attention. And I realize that I’m notoriously known for being an attention whore. But when the subject came up in interviews, I had to ask myself what I really felt. Did I only want to be with guys the rest of my life? If there was any doubt in my mind, I couldn’t say I was completely straight and that I only liked men. So I didn’t. Frankly, I don’t date a lot because I’m so work-oriented and so picky about opening my heart to anyone, so it wasn’t really a question I’d forced myself to answer before.
Will your attraction to women be addressed on your show?
I definitely go to lesbian bars, and you do see me kiss a girl on the show. You’ll see me exploring all kinds of options because I don’t want to limit myself. Sex with a male or sex with a female? For me, sex is really about love and trust. The best sex I ever had wasn’t with some hot, sexy guy. It was with somebody I loved.
Later on, she redeems herself a bit, at least in this writer’s eyes, when she speaks about her dogs and her hopes to raise a child one day in an atmosphere of unconditional acceptance:
Your dogs, Ginger and Mary Ann, might be the gayest thing on your show. I can sort of understand why you’d dye them pink and purple, but why did you give Mary Ann, a male dog, a girl’s name?
I chose the name Mary Ann as a “fuck you” to gender stereotypes.
You’re totally hoping for a gay son one day, aren’t you?
I do hope my kids are gay. I don’t say that to be some crazy, obnoxious gay supporter, but because there are so many gay kids who grew up with mothers who didn’t support them. When I hear about that from gay people, I just wish I could’ve been their mom. When I’m a mom, I will love and embrace my children no matter what. I don’t really follow rules or social norms; I just do what I feel. And I don’t judge others, because I don’t want to be judged. If everyone had that mentality, our world would be full of people who feel they have the potential to do anything. Gay kids wouldn’t feel like they have no option other than to kill themselves.
You can read the full interview now on Advocate.com.
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