Hayden Panettiere has made a major revelation about her sexuality just before the release of her upcoming memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning (Grand Central Publishing). The 36-year-old actress publicly came out as bisexual in an interview with US Weekly published on Wednesday.
Panettiere admitted that she has kept this aspect of her identity hidden for years, despite feeling much more attracted to women than men during her youth. "The first time it even crossed my mind to touch on this subject was while I was in the process of writing this book," she told the magazine.
The actress, best known for her roles on Heroes and Nashville as well as her past engagement to former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, said she has chosen to "be completely brutally honest" about her sexuality. She explained that she was never able to do so before "because it was just never the right time."
Fear of Judgment
Panettiere shared that when she was younger, "no one ever encouraged me to just be myself, and then it came, the period of time, where it felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, and saying that they were bisexual, or liked girls, was a fad." She feared that even if she were truthful about her attraction to women, she would be accused of "jumping on the bandwagon."
The star admitted that "the fear of not being perfect, and what my team was going to think about it, what the public's opinion was going to be about it" kept her from being open about her sexuality. Her fame added another layer of difficulty to coming out as bisexual.
"It was always scary, because my life, I mean, there were paparazzi always outside, waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere," she said. "I had very little privacy, and I mean, I have dated women. It started at a very, very young age."
A Long Time Coming
Panettiere said making the announcement was a long time coming. "I wanted to make sure that I really sat down and chose my words carefully and was able to tell my story in an honest way, that people understood. On one hand, it's sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?"
This Is Me: A Reckoning is set to be published on May 19. The full interview is available in US Weekly.
