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Pretty Little Liars' Shay Mitchell Will Never Label Her Sexuality, And We Love Her Even More
"I could be 50 and dating a woman."
Fans first fell for Shay Mitchell six years ago as the sweet Emily Fields, a teen grappling to come out on Pretty Little Liars’ first season. Now, nearly six seasons of PLL later, with dozens of magazine covers, television appearances, and one award-worthy Instagram account under her fashionable belt, Shay is all grown up, and she still always seems to say and do the right thing. This time she told Cosmopolitan that she refuses to label her sexuality, something she’s alluded to before.
"When I started, people were like, 'What are you?' I'm like, right now I'm dating a guy. I don't know what it's going to be in three years,” Shay told Cosmo. “You love who you love. Black, white, polka dot, that's what my dad always said. I'm never going to label myself. I could be 50 and dating a woman and then what? I said I was straight and now I'm not?'"
But that’s not the first time the 29-year-old actress has discussed her openness to whatever may come her way in terms of love and relationships. Earlier this year she appeared in an interview with adorable out YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen, and she said basically the same thing.
"One of the questions that I got when I first started playing Emily -- a lot of the interviewers were like, 'Okay so, are you gay?' And I was like, 'I don't know.' Like, I don't know,” Shay told Ingrid. “Right now I'm dating a guy and I had a boyfriend in the past. Ask me in 10 years. Maybe I'll be dating a girl. I don't know. Come back to me. Like, ask me on a day-to-day basis. I don't know who I'm going to fall in love with."
Beyond her acting in PLL and in the new movie Mother's Day, keeping up her flawless Instagram account, co-authoring a book, and her penchant for always seeming to say the coolest, most open thing, Shay is also a girl’s girl who features and supports her female squad of friends on her YouTube channel. She’s also been deeply involved with charities working to rid the world of sex trafficking.
Congrats to Shay on remaining open and true to herself. It’s safe to say that all of Instagram, Twitter, and Pretty Little Liars’ fan base can’t wait to see who Shay is dating when she’s 50!
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Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
