Like many celebrities, I am unfortunately all too familiar with the accusation of faking a romance and my sexuality in order to increase public exposure.
Take Ruby Rose, for example. She recently had to defend her rekindled relationship with The Veronica’s Jess Origliasso, stating that the duo are not together for publicity reasons after an Australian radio host accused her of using her relationship for PR purposes.
Amber Heard after her break up with Johnny Depp was also accused through a deeply disturbing article in Hollywood Life of causing her own marriage failure due to ‘bisexual tendencies’.
Then there’s Megan Fox, Miley Cyrus, Angelina Jolie and Evan Rachel-Wood- again, all coming out as bisexual and instead of being received with support and slaps on the back, they were met with disbelief and claims of publicity stunts.
The big question is, why does someone’s sexuality scream scandal?
When my current girlfriend and I first got together, she had always thought she was straight. For the first few months while we figured out what we were, she was also going through the process of figuring out her own sexuality.
I, having been attracted to and experienced relationships with both men and women for some time, was lucky to feel a little more stable than her in a very public affair. However, it was a deeply confusing and distressing time for the both of us. For a long time we struggled with managing the whole saga, or whether we should bother to try at all.
How do we tell our family, our friends, the people we have worked with? How do we manage this publicly? What if we don’t work out, and if that’s the case, how will this impact sexual minorities who support us in Australia and internationally?