Hayden Panettiere is publicly revealing for the primary time that she identifies as bisexual.
“The primary time it even crossed my mind to the touch on this subject was while I used to be within the strategy of writing this book,” Panettiere, 36, exclusively tells Us Weekly on this week’s cover story while discussing her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, out May 19. Within the book, Panettiere discusses her attraction to women and the moment she finally felt comfortable enough to share that aspect of her identity with the world.
“It took two years to put in writing this book, and I didn’t know what I used to be going to feel comfortable touching on … and what stories were naturally going to return up, and the incontrovertible fact that that did come up, I used to be like, ‘Why not?’” the Nashville alum continues. “I’ve chosen to be completely brutally honest about this, and that’s something about me that I used to be never in a position to share with the world, since it was just never the suitable time.”
Panettiere admits that she avoided revealing her attraction to women previously because she felt like she was “forced to be perfect in any respect times” when she was younger.
“I used to be not encouraged to simply be myself,” she tells Us. “Nobody ever encouraged me to simply be myself, after which it got here, the time frame, where it felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, and saying that they were bisexual, or liked girls, was a fad.”
Panettere says she felt “afraid” that if she got here out sooner, people would see it as “jumping on the bandwagon.”
“And once more, it was all the time the fear of not being perfect, and what my team was going to give it some thought, what the general public’s opinion was going to be about it,” she continues. “It was just never the suitable time, and it was a really difficult topic to articulate properly. I desired to be sure that that I actually sat down and selected my words rigorously and was in a position to tell my story in an honest way, that individuals understood. On one hand, it’s sad that I had to attend till I used to be 36 years old to share that a part of me, but higher late than never, right?”
Panettiere adds, “Now that I do know that this book is coming out, and that I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable saying I’m bisexual. I’m comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I’m bisexual. I said it!”
Speaking her truth. Keke Palmer opened up about her personal journey with gender and sexuality while accepting an award on the Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala. “I’ve all the time been my very own person, and sexuality and identity, for me, it’s all the time been confusion,” the Nope star, 29, said as she received the Vanguard Award — which […]
The Ice Princess star also opens up about her past experience dating women.
“It was all the time scary, because my life, I mean, there have been paparazzi all the time outside, waiting for me outside, to follow me all over the place,” she recalls. “I had little or no privacy, and I mean, I actually have dated women. It began at a really, very young age.”
Panettiere says she was “far more into women” than men when growing up.
“But, yeah, I actually have explored it, but I don’t think I ever had the courage, because I hadn’t shared this with anybody,” she notes. “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 desired to ever need to hide. I didn’t feel confident enough, and I used to be too afraid to essentially let that a part of me explore that a part of me.”
Panettiere’s most up-to-date public romance was with ex Brian Hickerson from 2018 to 2020. She was also previously engaged to Wladimir Klitschko, with whom she shares 11-year-old daughter Kaya, from 2013 to 2018.
This Is Me: A Reckoning hits shelves on Tuesday, May 19.