Coming out is a big moment in someone's life. It's a moment a lot of members of the LGBTQ community face with part fear and part excitement. You can never know what to expect of someone's reaction, but you can hope with your whole heart that you're met with love and acceptance.
Many celebrities who are LGBTQ have started sharing their coming out stories. Some of these moments have even played out in public, like JoJo Siwa and Demi Lovato. These stories are meant to inspire and support the many out there who struggle to share their truth.
Here are just some of the celebrities who have shared what it was like to show their whole selves to their loved ones for the first time.
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato recently came out as nonbinary, using the pronouns they/them/their. First, Demi came out as pansexual to their parents.
"It was actually, like emotional, but really beautiful," Demi said.
"After everything was done I was like shaking and crying and I just felt overwhelmed, but I have such incredible parents. They were so supportive."
Dan Levy
Dan Levy explained that his parents, Eugene Levy and Deborah Divine, eagerly awaited him coming out. One day, his mom just asked him.
"My mom asked me over lunch one day, and I said yes," he recalled. "My mom and I have a close relationship in that sense and it almost felt like she knew that I was ready."
"We knew for the longest time," Eugene said of the moment. "We were waiting and mom couldn't wait any longer."
Tessa Thompson
Tessa Thompson explained that she didn't quite need to have a "coming out" moment because of her family's open nature.
"I can take things for granted because of my family — it's so free and you can be anything that you want to be," she explained in a Net-a-Porter interview.
"I'm attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don't even have to have the discussion."
Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox first came out to her family as gay and, later, as transgender. "I came out to my mom first as gay my sophomore year, and she freaked out. And then, when I came out to my mother as trans a few years later, it was after I started my medical transition — she took that easier," Laverne shared.
"This time I was living in New York, I was supporting myself, and so she never said, 'I don't want you in my life.' It was just that she didn't understand and she had issues with the pronoun thing and the name change; it was just like, 'Girl, you gotta get this together.'"
Sam Smith
Sam Smith came out as nonbinary publicly in September 2019. In an interview with British GQ, Sam, who uses they/them/their pronouns, shared their story.
"Ever since I was a little boy, ever since I was a little human, I didn't feel comfortable being a man really. I never really did. Some days I've got my manly side and some days I’ve got my womanly side, but it's when I'm in the middle of that switch that I get really, really depressed and sad. Because I don't know who I am or where I am or what I'm doing and I feel very misunderstood by myself. I realised that's because I don't fit into either," Sam explained.
"I was with my mum … and she said something so beautiful. [She said] 'I'm so relieved that you and me and your whole family have a way to explain this, because it's also been eating me up your whole life.' Because my mum could see it and that it was a torture going on in my mind."
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus first started understanding more about her relationship with gender and sexuality as a teen. "My eyes started opening in the fifth or sixth grade. My first relationship in my life was with a chick. I grew up in a very religious Southern family," she told Time.
"The universe has always given me the power to know I'll be OK. Even at that time, when my parents didn't understand, I just felt that one day they are going to understand."
"On The Voice, this young girl started crying when she left, because I'm the reason she came out," Miley would later tell USA Today.
"My mom started crying. She was like, 'I'm so sorry about the way I was when you were that age and coming out.' She never understood me until she saw that girl who couldn't be herself. It was very cool."
Cara Delevingne
Cara Delevingne recalled trying to navigate her sexuality as a teen and being unsure of herself. She came out to her dad while mourning the loss of her first relationship with a woman.
"I've never been very good at talking about my emotions with my father," she told Variety.
"And I remember one day, I was so upset because I was heartbroken. And my dad was like, 'You never talk to me.' And I screamed at him, 'I'm [expletive] heartbroken.'
"I ran downstairs. I remember he gave me a hug, and I started crying so much. I said, 'She broke my heart.' I thought at the moment, he might kick me out. I was that scared; I was honestly terrified. And he was like, 'She isn't worth the energy. You deserve to be loved.' He was so sweet, I could cry about it right now."
JoJo Siwa
JoJo Siwa came out to the world in early 2021, but first she came out to her parents.
"You want to know what my dad said?" JoJo asked in an interview with Seventeen.
"My dad said, 'Hey man, love is universal.' My parents have known. My mom said that she's known for the last two years. She said, 'I just know with you.' My family is awesome."
Lil Nas X
Lil Nas X came out to his family about a month before he came out publicly. "It's something I never probably would have did if I was still living with my parents. I have that independence to do it, you know?" he told Billboard.
A year after coming out, he admitted his family was still adjusting to the news. "My family knows now. But it's not something that's ever brought up or we speak about. We're quiet on it," he admitted to Rolling Stone.
"Nobody's like, 'Oh, you got a boyfriend.' I don't want it to be something we never talk about. Because what about the kids in my family? I would like it to be a healthy medium between, 'Who are you [expletive]?' and just not saying anything." His honest response is accurate to so many whose families did not go straight to acceptance.
Willow Smith
Willow Smith came out as polyamorous on an episode of Red Table Talk, and mom Jada shared her reaction to first hearing the news.
"When you were like, 'Hey, this is my get-down, I was like, 'I totally get it,'" Jada said.
"Wanting to set up your life in a way that you can have what it is that you want, I think anything goes as long as the intentions are clear."
*At Wild Sky Media, we recognize that not all pregnancies and parenting journeys look the same. That’s why across all our sites — CafeMom, LittleThings, Mom.com, and MamásLatinas — we are committed to using inclusive language as much as possible, recognizing that all forms of parenting are valid and celebrating the shared experiences and unique differences among moms, dads, nonbinary and noncisgender parents, and all forms of caregivers.
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