Lili Reinhart is owning her truth. During her recent appearance on the LGBTQ&A podcast, the 24-year-old Riverdale actress opened up about publicly coming out as bisexual in June. After having her relationship with costar Cole Sprouse publicized in the media, she explained that she waited until they broke up to talk about her sexuality. “I think that’s why I didn’t come out as bisexual until I was not in a relationship anymore,” she said. “Because it’s easy for people to question, ‘Oh, but you’re with a man that’s straight.’ It’s like, well, Anna Paquin is married to a man, but she is bisexual.”
She continued, “I didn’t want to put my ex in a position, it seems like it would have been a little strange to come out when I was in a hetero relationship. It just seemed, I don’t know, maybe a little bit like I was looking for something else while I was in the relationship. So, I didn’t really think about coming out until after I was not in a relationship anymore. It just felt more organic that way.”
“I was afraid of coming out. I didn’t want people to tell me that I was lying to get attention.”
The Chemical Hearts star and executive producer also admitted that she was fearful about how her coming out would be perceived by other people. “I was afraid of coming out,” she said. “I didn’t want people to tell me that I was lying to get attention or something. And so I just kept my mouth shut. Also I’ve told people in the past and they’ve told me, ‘Oh, it’s a phase.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, great, thanks.’ So that’s discouraging, obviously.”
That being said, Lili revealed she has received an outpouring of support from fans since sharing her Instagram. “I did have a couple of ladies sliding into my DMs which I thought was funny, but also flattering,” she said. “Yeah. It was interesting to see the difference in my DMs after I came out, which was a nice little surprise . . . And also just like, I hate to say it, more quality human beings. People who genuinely are coming because they’re saying, ‘Oh, thank you for doing that.’ Or ‘I really appreciate you doing that,’ rather than some random person saying like, ‘Hey, wanna f*ck?’ It just was more, I hate to say it, but just more quality messages, people genuinely who cared.”
Image Source: Getty / CHRIS DELMAS