'King Richard' star Aunjanue Ellis: 'I am Black, I am queer. This is who I am.' (original) (raw)

The actress opened up about her sexuality in a new interview.

Published on June 1, 2022 04:15PM EDT

King Richard star Aunjanue Ellis is ready to fully live her truth. In a new interview with Variety, Ellis revealed that she identified as bisexual — something that was already known by family and friends, but that she hadn't made clear to the wider world.

Why? Because, as Ellis explained, "Nobody asked."

Elaborating that she wasn't inclined to bring up her personal life amidst promoting an Oscar-nominated movie and her work "because that's artificial," Ellis chose to speak her truth a different way: by wearing a Dolce & Gabbana suit jacket with the word "Queer" emblazoned in rhinestones to the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards a few months ago and by speaking out through Variety in their 2022 Pride issue.

"I'm very clear about being bisexual. I have a sweatshirt that says 'Girl Bi' that I wear everywhere," Ellis said, adding that while she works hard to make fellow Black women proud, they still fail to recognize her as part of the LGBTQ+ family.

"There is an assumption made of me — a presumption made of me. Is it because I'm a Black woman from Mississippi? Is it because I'm older? I don't know what the mechanics are that goes into them not processing, or them not just being able to believe that in the same way I am Black, I am queer," Ellis said. "This is who I am."

'King Richard' star Aunjanue Ellis has revealed she's bisexual. Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic

Ellis admitted that she knew her sexuality from the age of 8 but felt stunted growing up in the strict shadow of the Bible-belt and didn't acknowledge her bisexuality until she was in her 30's. "There was a moment when the sun was hitting the water, and I was looking down in the water, and it was so clear, and I can only hear this woman's voice behind me," she said of the walk she took with a friend at Sundance Lab that changed her life. "I said, 'This is how I'm supposed to feel. This is what I've been waiting to feel my entire life.'"

When EW spoke to Ellis earlier this year to highlight her impressive King Richard performance as Venus and Serena Williams' mother Oracene, she drove home the feeling of the role holding a special place in her heart as the matriarch of a successful Black family.

"It's because I've done something I feel good about, and that's because it's making people feel good," she told EW of the role. "I had to convince them to put me in this movie, but thankfully I got them to believe."

And now she's asking her colleagues and the world to believe in her as she puts her heart on her sleeve — and in the industry.

"It is imperative that we see more of that, because it is the truth of who we are," Ellis told Variety. "It is not a blemish on who we are. It is the wonderful scope of our humanity as Black folks in this country. It is something that I am insisting on, in what I bring into the world creatively."

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