Former Heroes star Hayden Panettiere has officially opened up about her sexuality. The actress revealed she is actually bisexual.
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In her new book, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere wrote about how her sexuality has changed throughout the course of her acting career. She addressed her bisexuality with Us Weekly.
“Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable to confidently say that yes, I am bisexual,” she told Us. “I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud.”
Panettiere further admitted that she has struggled to finally reveal herself to the world because it was “never the right time.”
“It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times,” she pointed out. “I was not encouraged to just be myself. Then came the period where it felt like people coming out, especially women, saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad.”
The actress also pointed out, “I was afraid that if I was honest, it was going to be like me jumping on the bandwagon. It was a very difficult topic to articulate properly. It’s sad I had to wait until I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?”
The Actress Says Dating Women Has Been Challenging Due to Her Celebrity Status
Although she has dated women in the past, Panettiere admitted that things have been more challenging. This is due to her celebrity status.
“It was scary,” she declared. “Because there were paparazzi always waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere. I had very little privacy.”
The Scream castmate also noted, “I have dated women. I was much more into women even as a child than I was men.”
Panettiere previously dated and was engaged to Wladimir Klitschko. The former couple shares a daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko.
The actress went on to reveal why it’s important for her to come out about her sexuality. “I have explored it,” she added. “But because I hadn’t shared this with anybody, I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully emotionally into it. Because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide.”