Shawn Mendes Opens Up About Rumors & Speculation About His Sexuality

Shawn Mendes is speaking out about his sexuality and the speculation and rumors about his sexual orientation.

“It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very very close to, who were gay and in the closet,” the 22-year-old entertainer said on Dax Shepard‘s podcast about the rumors that he’s gay.

He continued, “And I felt like this real anger for those people. It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, ‘I’m not gay but it’d be fine if I was gay — but also there’s nothing wrong with being gay but I’m not.’ You don’t really know how to respond to the situation.”

Shawn added, “I’ve realized that we just have to stop having to be experts and politicians about it, especially as a famous musician who’s a guy. I need to be really f—ing messy and say the wrong things and apologize and say the right thing after I apologize and be confused about how to respond when people say I’m gay. Everyone’s been calling me gay since I was 15 years old. I’m not gay and I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ I had these problems with the way my voice sounded. I’m like, ‘How do I sit?’ I’m always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that s–.”

“I think a lot of guys go through that and even worse than that there are just so many guys who are gay and in the closet and must be hearing s— like that and just being like, ‘I’m terrified to come out,’” he continued.

“I didn’t grow up wrestling,” Shawn said. “I grew up getting my hair braided on New Year’s Eve. It just completely depends on the way you grew up in your life and your surroundings.”

He also touched upon his relationship with Camila Cabello, saying, “I’m in a relationship where my girlfriend is like, ‘We’re going to get in bed and you’re going to put your head on my chest and you’re going to cry into my chest. You’re going to tell me how you feel because if you don’t do that you’re just going to be an asshole for the next week and I’m not going to deal with that s—. I’m just lucky to be in a relationship that’s for it.”

Shawn recently had to apologize to another celebrity for using the wrong pronoun.