21 celebrities who have come out as pansexual
8 August 2019, 17:22
Demi Lovato comes out as non-binary
A list of some of pansexual celebrities you should know about.
From Demi Lovato to Bella Thorne and Miley Cyrus, more celebrities are opening up about about their sexual identities.
Although the term pansexual has been around since the 1970s (and pansexual people even longer than that!) not everyone is familiar with the term.
However, thanks to some openly pansexual and proud celebrities, as well as other influential people within the LGBTQ+ community, visibility is increasing for people who identify as pansexual.
READ MORE: 21 celebrities that have come out as non-binary
What does pansexual mean?
Pansexuality (sometimes called omnisexual) is the sexual, romantic or emotional attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity. This differs from bisexuality, which can be defined as the sexual or romantic attraction to more than one sex, usually men and women.
However, some argue that bisexuality and pansexuality are the same. Some bisexual people describe themselves as being "gender blind", which means gender is disregarded in their interactions. Meanwhile, others have more rigid views on the attraction to femininity and masculinity.
Here are some stars who have publicly spoken about their sexuality.
1) Bella Thorne
Bella Thorne revealed she identifies as pansexual during an interview with Good Morning America in July 2019. The actress had previously come out as bisexual in 2016, but after someone explained to her what it means to be pansexual she realised that it fit.
"I'm actually pansexual and I didn’t know that," she explained. "Somebody explained to me really thoroughly what that is. You like what you like. Doesn’t have to be a girl or a guy, or a he or she, or they, or this or that. It’s literally you like personality. You just like a being."
2) Brendon Urie
Brendon Urie came out as pansexual in July 2018. The Panic! at the Disco singer opened up about his sexuality in an interview with PAPER magazine.
"I'm married to a woman and I'm very much in love with her but I'm not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person," Brendon revealed. "Yeah I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don't care. I guess this is me coming out as pansexual."
Brendon added that he is "definitely attracted to men" and it's all about the person. He continued: "If a person is great, then a person is great. I just like good people, if your heart's in the right place."
3) Miley Cyrus
In October 2016, Miley opened up about being pansexual and gender-fluid in an interview with Variety. She said: "I think when I figured out what it was. I went to the LGBTQ centre here in LA, and I started hearing these stories. I saw one human in particular who didn’t identify as male or female. Looking at them, they were both: beautiful and sexy and tough but vulnerable and feminine but masculine. And I related to that person more than I related to anyone in my life. Even though I may seem very different, people may not see me as neutral as I feel. But I feel very neutral.
"I think that was the first gender-neutral person I’d ever met. Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, 'Oh – that’s why I don’t feel straight and I don’t feel gay. It’s because I’m not'."
4) Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe revealed she is a "queer black woman" in an interview with Rolling Stone in April 2018, after initially identifying as bisexual.
"Being a queer black woman in America," the Hidden Figures actress said. "Someone who has been in relationships with both men and women – I consider myself to be a free-ass motherfucker."
She added: "Later I read about pansexuality and was like, 'Oh, these are things that I identify with too.'I’m open to learning more about who I am."
5) Courtney Act
Like Miley, Courtney Act identifies as pansexual and gender-fluid. Although Courtney said it's often presumed that she is gay, she has previously admitted to having "sexual and emotional experiences" with women too. The RuPaul's Drag Race star even presented bisexual dating show, The Bi Life.
"I am attracted to people irrespective of their gender," Courtney revealed to Cosmopolitan UK in May 2019, when asked about pansexuality.
"I am mostly attracted to guys, but I’ve had experiences with people of different genders. I feel like if I’m attracted to someone I’ll see where that takes me, rather than be like, 'That’s a girl, I don’t like girls'. I just see what happens."
6) Amandla Stenberg
Amandla Stenberg revealed that she is actually pansexual but finds it much easier to just say she's bisexual because not everyone knows what it is. The actress opened up about her sexuality in a video for Rookie magazine in 2016.
"I identify publicly as bisexual," she said. "I would also use the word pansexual to describe my sexuality. The thing is I use the word bisexual just because I feel like for people who don’t necessarily know that vocabulary…it’s easier to say I’m bi."
7) Héloïse Letissier (Christine and the Queens)
In 2016, Héloïse revealed that she identifies as pansexual and gender queer. When asked what being pansexual meant, she replied: "It means that I can fall in love with someone regardless of their gender, regardless of how they define themselves. I don't really see that as an obstacle, as a definition."
On bisexuality, she added: "I'm just trying to escape any labels there because I can fall in love with a man who defines herself as a woman, for example. I can fall in love with a man that decides she is going to become a woman and then what does that make me? I think bisexual still works in a society where you have two boxes to tick and I don’t really want to tick any boxes."
8) Jazz Jennings
Jazz Jennings became one of the youngest people ever to publicly declare she is trans aged six. Now a teen, the YouTuber and LGBTQ+ activist came out as pansexual to Dazed.
She said: "I’m still exploring. I think I’m physically attracted to guys but I know I could potentially be emotionally attracted to girls. I’m just attracted to people for who they are on the inside.
"That’s what it is to be pansexual, you know – loving people for who they are on the inside, no matter their label. Just loving someone. So I guess I am pansexual, but I don’t know because I haven’t fallen in love."
9) Asia Kate Dillon
Asia Kate Dillon identifies as non-binary, using them/they pronouns, and pansexual too. The Orange Is The New Black star opened up about pansexuality during an interview with HuffPost in 2017.
Asia said: "From the time I came to understand sex and sexual orientation, and all of that, I've identified as pansexual and I've always felt like I had the spiritual, emotional, physical capability of being attracted to any gender."
10) Brooke Candy
Brooke Candy is openly pansexual, having spoken about her sexuality in an interview with HUNGER in 2014. The singer was asked about the messages behind her music. She said: "I'm standing up for the disenchanted youth, I’m really trying to spawn some sort of revolution with our generation because I feel we’re being fed a lot of bullshit that causes us to be indifferent.
"I'm a feminist, I’m young and I’m gay (though I’ve now come to the conclusion that I feel more pansexual)."
11) Bob The Drag Queen
Bob The Drag Queen revealed he identified as pansexual and non-binary on Twitter in October 2019. The RuPaul's Drag Race star tweeted: "For the record I identify as Pansexual and non binary."
He followed it up with a tweet confirming that he prefers binary pronouns. He added: "Oddly enough I prefer binary pronouns. he/him/his/she/her/hers."
12) Tana Mongeau
Tana Mongeau revealed that she's "pansexual as hell" during Pride Month 2020. The YouTuber has dated singer and actress Bella Thorne and was previously "married" to YouTuber Jake Paul.
"It’s also pride month and i haven’t had the chance to go hard for my lgbtqia+ babies but i be about pansexual as hell + i stand for u all [sic]," she tweeted.
Tana went into further detail about her sexuality on Instagram, she wrote: "Verified u knew i had a long ass pride post coming. I never thought i’d be brave enough to publicly share my sexuality in the way i do now.. i still struggle with it – i hate the boxes, i hate people telling me i’m straight or discrediting my relationship if i’m with a girl.. but i’m proud to be not only a member but an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community and i’m proud to say i will live my life based on loving people not for their gender but their soul.
"some people call that pansexuality, everyone calls me bi, i personally don’t find a need to label it all.. love and sexuality is gender less to me & i’m so lucky to have this platform to speak openly about that. also fuck our president for his absolute inhumane ideals toward the lgbtqia community and u better be voting his ass out with me..
"it hurts my heart to even be posting about pride knowing that the rights of Trans people were just so sickeningly ripped from them. i will use the way that angers me to fight for change. I LOVE ALL OF U LGBTQIA BABIES, EXACTLY WHO YOU FEEL LIKE INSIDE IS EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE MEANT TO BE."
13) Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato revealed they were pansexual in March 2021. Speaking about whether or not they would want to have children in future on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Demi said: "I also don't know if I'm going to end up with a guy, so I can't really see myself maybe getting pregnant. I'm so fluid now – and a part of the reason why I am so fluid is because I was super closeted off."
Joe then asked Demi to clarify what they meant by being fluid and if it was the same as being pansexual. Demi, who is also non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, then replied: "Yeah, pansexual."
14) JoJo Siwa
JoJo Siwa revealed she was a member of the LGBTQ+ community in January 2021, however, she never wanted to "label" her sexuality. "I still don't know what I am. It's like, I want to figure it out. And I have this joke. Her name is Kylie. And so I say that I'm Ky-sexual," she told People in reference to her girlfriend Kylie Prew. "But like, I don't know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight. I always just say gay because it just kind of covers it or queer because I think the keyword is cool."
JoJo added: "I like queer. Technically I would say that I am pansexual because that's how I have always been my whole life is just like, my human is my human."
15) Yungblud
Yungblud officially revealed he's pansexual in Attitude magazine, when he received their annual Gamechanger Award, after previously stating he's "more straight". He credits his relationship with singer Halsey, who is bisexual, for teaching him "so much" about sexuality.
"I’m still quite weird about going, 'This is what I am' to the world because I've never really said it," he told the publication. And, when asked whether or not he considers himself part of the LGBTQ+ community, he replied: "I know it’s such a massive statement to me, but probably, yeah, I think I would. I haven't said that yet because I don’t want some mad article everywhere going, 'Yungblud comes out as fucking pan!'"
He added: "I wasn’t into that – like, my sexuality is mine and I’m proud of it...I love everyone. I’m attracted to everyone."
16) Rina Sawayama
Rina Sawayama has identified as both pansexual and bisexual. The singer came out in an interview with Broadly back in 2018 stating that she had "always written songs about girls". Rina told Vice her single 'Cherry' is actually about being pansexual whilst being in a heterosexual relationship. She said: "It's the truth for a lot of bi and pan people – they don't feel authentically queer when they’re in heterosexual relationships, and that is what the song is about."
17) Cara Delevingne
Cara Delevingne has previously stated that she would call herself pansexual. In 2020, she told Variety: "I always will remain, I think, pansexual. However one defines themselves, whether it’s 'they' or 'he' or 'she', I fall in love with the person – and that’s that. I’m attracted to the person."
18) Ashnikko
Ashnikko announced she was pansexual on Twitter in May 2021. The singer tweeted: "To clarify i am pansexual and genderfluid i just didn't feel ready to tell the internet yet but i guess now’s a good time since everyone's doing a dissection into my sexuality and gender identity."
19) Gottmik
RuPaul's Drag Race star Gottmik revealed that she identifies as pansexual in the digital Pride issue of Glamour. Speaking about what pansexuality means to them, Gottmik said: "It just means that I do not care about gender at all. All I care about is a really gorge personality and that's it. And I feel like most of my friends are the exact same way, whether they label that or not. So, I just put a label on it because I was like, 'Why not? I'm labelling everything in my life at the moment.'"
20) Madison Bailey
Madison Bailey came out as pansexual on TikTok in May 2020. The Outerbanks actress, who plays Kiara on the Netflix show, said she felt "zero shame" about her sexuality in an Instagram Live (via Teen Vogue). "I feel zero shame, and I don’t feel that way because nobody’s ever really shamed me for it and I know a lot of people have had lot of hate and lack of support," she explained. "I know so many, countless stories of queer people that did not have support. But if you’re asking me personally, that’s just my experience with it. It was worth it. I feel lighter, I feel happier that I can just be so open and honest. It feels nice."
Madison went on to say that she believes most people are sexually fluid. She added: "I was saying this the other day I was like, to be honest, I don't believe in straight people. They're as real as unicorns to me."
21) Danielle Cohn
Danielle Cohn revealed that she identifies as pansexual during Pride Month 2021. In an Instagram post, Danielle announced: "Love is love. Never be scared to love who you wanna love. Happy pride month!!" She also hashtagged "Pansexual Pride".