Though her fans and the LGBTQ+ community at large have been welcoming to Lili Reinhart since her public coming out during Pride Month earlier this year, the Riverdale actress does admit that she was a little guarded about her sexuality in years past.
In a recent cover story interview with Flaunt Magazine for their Summer 2020 issue, the 23-year-old Hustlers star opened up about how that even though she knew she was bi from a very young age, and that her close friends and family knew about her queerness, she was a little reluctant to publicly address her sexuality in the past for fear of being vilified by haters—and the press.
"I knew full well that I was attracted to women from a young age," she tells the magazine. "I felt that since I’ve exclusively been in hetero-normative relationships, it would be too easy for any outsider, especially the media, to vilify me and accuse me of faking it to get attention."
She continued:
"That’s not something I wanted to deal with. But to my close friends, and those in my life, my bisexuality has been no secret."
"Although I’ve never announced it publicly before, I am a proud bisexual woman," the actress, who is set to star in and produce the upcoming romantic teen film Chemical Hearts, said in a statement on her Instagram stories when she publicly came out back in June, sharing the flyer of the peaceful 'LGTBQ+ for #BlackLivesMatter' protest that was being held in West Hollywood.
Reinhart also told Flaunt that being a part of Black Lives Matter protests in Los Angeles' West Hollywood gayborhood helped her find the strength and courage to publicly come out.
"It was incredible to be surrounded by so many people who are actively fighting against the injustices that are happening right now," she said. "Enough is enough and hopefully we’ll see real change from the actions that are now being taken."
While it sucks that society's biphobia kept her from publicly coming out sooner, we love that Lili can comfortably and openly live her truth now, and it's something we absolutely love to see!
