Amandla Stenberg comes out as gay

Actor Amandla Stenberg has come out as gay, after previously stating in 2016 that she would consider herself to be bisexual.

The Everything, Everything star made the revelation in a new interview for Wonderland magazine.

Stenberg shared a picture of the corresponding shoot and cover story on Instagram and wrote, “OUT & PROUD. So happy to say the words Yep, I’m Gay in official print.”

In the interview, the young actor said she released “joyful and overwhelmed sobs” upon realising her sexuality.

“I was so overcome with this profound sense of relief when I realised that I’m gay? not bi, not pan, but gay?with a romantic love for women.  All of the things that felt so internally contrary to my truest self were rectified as I unravelled a long web of denial and self-deprivation. 

“...I was flooded with a sense of calm and peace because everything that I struggled with or felt discomfort around finally made sense to me, and once those floodgates opened and years of pent up pain and shame were released, I found the freedom to live my best life waiting for me just underneath,” Stenberg said.

She also said Mila Kunis was her “first lesbian crush” and recalled watching her performance in After Sex. Other early crushes included Mirage from The Incredibles and Christina Vidal from Freaky Friday.

The Hunger Games actor said she is “grateful for how being gay has afforded me this ability to experience and understand love and sex, and therefore life, in an expansive and infinite way.”