For celebrities and others in the public spotlight, coming out means sharing their sexuality or gender identity with millions of people around the world.
Some superstars, like Reneé Rapp and Chappell Roan, took their rapid rise to stardom this year as a chance to offer more insight into their identities (both singers have been embraced as part of the lesbian pop renaissance). Others said they were part of the LGBTQ community for the very first time.
Here are a few of the people who have come out in 2024.
Sophia Bush
In a cover story for Glamour magazine in April, Sophia Bush revealed that she identifies as a queer woman and confirmed her relationship with soccer player Ashlyn Harris.
“I’ve experienced so much safety, respect, and love in the queer community, as an ally all of my life, that, as I came into myself, I already felt it was my home,” she wrote for the magazine. “Right now I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can’t say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great.”
Amber Ruffin
Comedian Amber Ruffin posted a joyful photo of herself wearing a shirt with the word “Queer” on the last night of Pride Month. “Be proud of who you are, little babies! I know I am!” Ruffin wrote as part of the post, adding that the news should come as a shock to “exactly zero people.”
Julia Fox
Actor and author Julia Fox appeared to come out as a lesbian in a TikTok video shared in July. Fox jokingly proclaimed that “I was that lesbian” in response to a viral video in which comedian Emily Gracin quipped about seeing “a lesbian with their boyfriend.” Fox was previously married to a man and had a brief but high-profile relationship with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in 2022. “So sorry, boys,” Fox said in the video.
Maren Morris
Singer Maren Morris took to Instagram during Pride Month to share that she was “happy to be the B in LGBTQ+.” The country singer has been outspoken about her support for the LGBTQ community in the past. In 2022, she raised $100,000 for organizations that support trans rights after Fox News host Tucker Carlson called her a “lunatic country music person” for her criticism of anti-transgender remarks.
Trey Cunningham
Shortly after competing in the U.S. Olympic trials, track star Trey Cunningham decided to come out as gay in an interview with The New York Times. While he’s been out to friends and family for about five years, Cunningham told the Times that coming out was “the scariest thing I’ve ever done.”
Louisa Jacobson
Actor Louisa Jacobson’s family had a lot to celebrate in June. Jacobson came out as a lesbian in a stylish Instagram carousel that included a screenshot of a New York Times article titled, “We’re Entering a Joyful New Era of Lesbian Fashion.” The post coincided with the 75th birthday of her mother, acclaimed Oscar winner Meryl Streep.
Sasheer Zamata
The self-described “late-in-life lesbian” and former “Saturday Night Live” star came out as gay in a September interview with Them, an LGBTQ news outlet. Zamata explained that after being repeatedly cast in queer roles throughout her comedy career, she began to ask herself: “What are these casting directors seeing that I’m not seeing?”
Amanda Tori Meating
The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 alum shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in January that being on the show allowed her to be “more comfortable in the reformation of my identity.” Meating, who had identified as nonbinary for years, said at the time that while she’s not fully comfortable calling herself a trans woman, she sees herself as “a t-girl at the moment.”
Maya Massafera
Brazilian social media sensation Maya Massafera came out as a trans woman in May to her 5.5 million Instagram followers. The post shared her new name and a photo of what appears to be a legal document showing that her government IDs now list her sex as female. In a June essay published in Vogue Brazil’s Pride issue, Massafera poignantly wrote: “There’s a saying that life begins at 40. Mine literally started at 43.”
Bruce Joel Rubin
“Ghost” screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin proved in June that it’s never too late to come out. The 81-year-old Hollywood veteran shared in his memoir, “It’s Only a Movie,” that he has known he is gay for decades. He added that his wife has known about his sexuality throughout their marriage, and that he had also come out to his children and grandchildren, according to The Guardian.
Ilana Glazer
In the last year, Ilana Glazer, co-creator and star of the Comedy Central series “Broad City,” quietly updated their pronouns on social media to “they/she” without sharing any additional info about their identity. Then, in an interview with USA Today in May, they said pregnancy helped them realize that being nonbinary “feels true to how I feel in my body.”
In an interview with The Independent in August, Glazer elaborated, saying that they often felt like they had to hide their masculinity or make jokes about it, and that their femininity felt like drag.
“Then this gift of being pregnant made space for me to be real with myself,” they said, adding that realizing they are nonbinary has allowed them to move “through the world in a way that’s truer.”
Chloë Grace Moretz
After years of public speculation, actor Chloë Grace Moretz came out as a gay woman in a social media post endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris before the presidential election.
“I voted early and I voted for Kamala Harris,” she wrote in November. “There is so much on the line this election. I believe the government has no right over my body as a woman, and that the decisions over my body should come ONLY from myself and my doctor. Kamala Harris will protect that for us. I believe in the need for legal protections that protects the LGBTQ+ community as a gay woman.”
Moretz had never spoken publicly about her own sexuality before, despite being linked to model Kate Harrison for about five years and often posting photos of the two of them. In 2018, she played a gay teen who was sent to a so-called conversion therapy camp in the movie “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” During the press tour for that movie, she was surprised when a reporter for The Independent told her she had been included in an article about straight actors playing gay characters.
“Well I think what’s important is don’t assume anyone’s sexuality,” she said at the time.
Detox
Detox, a contestant on "RuPaul’s Drag Race" season five and "RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars" season two, came out as transgender during a performance at a Drag PAC event in August. While performing with Willam Belli, a contestant on "RuPaul’s Drag Race" season four, Detox substituted some of the lyrics of a song with “I’m trans now!” The audience responded with cheers.
Detox later commented on a viral TikTok video of the performance: “Cat’s outta the bag!”
Brenda Biya
Brenda Biya, the daughter of the president of Cameroon — a country where same-sex sexual activity is illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison — came out publicly and shared that she’s dating a woman in an Instagram post on the last day of Pride Month.
“PS: I’m crazy about you & I want the world to know,” she wrote in the post, which featured a photo of her kissing Brazilian model Layyons Valença.
Biya told Le Parisien that coming out “is an opportunity to send a strong message,” and that she hopes her story can help change Cameroon’s law.
“There are plenty of people in the same situation as me who suffer because of who they are,” she told Le Parisien. If I can give them hope, help them feel less alone, if I can send love, I am happy.”
Biya later deleted the post after facing a slew of negative comments, she said in a TikTok video.
