Amandla Stenberg was "scared" to come out as gay.
Amandla Stenberg
The 19-year-old actress described herself as bisexual in a 2016 interview but clarified in June she is only attracted to women and she has admitted it took her some time to feel "really proud" of her sexuality.
She said: "I'd been out as bisexual, and people have known I'm queer for a long time. I saw some comments that made me chuckle, like, 'Girl, we been knew!'
"But I wanted to make it very clear that I have romantic love for women.
"I realised I had so much internalised homophobia and so much discomfort around hooking up with dudes.
"I always knew that when I hooked up with girls, it was the happiest I'd been in any sexual dynamic.
"I love that we have this umbrella term of queer, and so many things can exist underneath it, but I realised that part of my journey was hiding underneath that umbrella, because I was scared - on a personal and a public level - to confront what I was. It was easier for me to say 'I'm bi' or 'I'm pan' as I was figuring it out. But I came to a place where I felt really proud of my sexuality, and I decided I wanted to share that pride."
But the 'Hate U Give' actress - who is dating 19-year-old musician King Princess aka Mikaela Straus - reassured fans that there is nothing wrong with "changing your mind" about sexual preferences.
She told the new issue of Seventeen magazine: "Gender and sexuality are so fluid--it's okay to change your mind a million times and figure out what works for you. It's OK to take your time."
Tagged in Amandla Stenberg