Kristen Stewart says her sexuality is ‘confusing for other people’ but she won’t ‘hide’ (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Actor and Oscar-nominee Kristen Stewart has said that coming out as bisexual was “confusing for other people”, but that she doesn’t want to “hide anything” from her fans.
Speaking to the Mirror ahead of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, Stewart explained that she has struggled with opening up her private life to fans – she is engaged to screenwriter Dylan Meyer – while keeping some things under wraps.
She told the newspaper: “As an actor, you just want to reveal yourself. And so, it’s really counter-intuitive to be like, ‘Wait, but not here.’ In my private life? What is that? I’m an actor.
“I don’t really want a private life. I don’t want the details of my life to be disgustingly consumed and commodified. But at the same time I don’t want to hide anything.”
Kristen Stewart added that some fans were initially confused about her sexuality, as despite dating both women and men, she didn’t define herself publicly as bisexual for a number of years.
“It was confusing for other people,” she said.
“I was fine. I was one way for a long time and I was not a different way once I started dating other people. Unless you say the words, because words matter, you’re not fully out yet.”
The 31-year-old actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Princess Diana in Spencer, added in the interview that playing the icon made her feel “power”.
She said: “I felt this power. I felt taller playing her. I felt like I could bring people together. I felt like I could put my arms around people in a completely cheesy, conceptual, metaphorical, bulls**t way.
“Even if it was totally made up by me and something I was convincing myself of, her life helped me do that. And that felt good.”
Kristen Stewart has previously revealed the challenges she has faced as a queer woman in Hollywood, explaining that she had been told to hide her sexuality in order to bag high-profile roles.
“I have fully been told, ‘If you just like do yourself a favour, and don’t go out holding your girlfriend’s hand in public, you might get a Marvel movie,’” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
“I don’t want to work with people like that… Literally, life is a huge popularity contest.”