Hayden Panettiere comes out as bisexual: ‘Better late than never’

Hayden Panettiere has publicly come out as bisexual while speaking about her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

In an interview with Us Weekly published 6 May, the Heroes actress and former Disney Channel star discussed how she goes into detail about her sexuality in the book.

“That’s something about me I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time,” she said. “It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. I was not encouraged to just be myself.”

She continued: “Then came the period where it felt like people coming out, especially women, saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad. I was afraid that if I was honest, it was going to be like me jumping on the bandwagon. It was a very difficult topic to articulate properly.”

Panettiere went on to say that it was “sad” that she had to wait until she was 36 years old to share that part of herself with the world, but it’s “better late than never”.

In terms of labels, she said: “Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable to confidently say that yes, I am bisexual. I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud.”

She also discussed her dating life and confirmed that she has dated women before. “It was scary, though, because there were paparazzi always waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere,” she said.

“I had very little privacy. I have dated women. I was much more into women even as a child than I was men. I have explored it, but because I hadn’t shared this with anybody, I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully emotionally into it. Because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide.”

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