Amandla Stenberg Opens Up About Recently Identifying as Gay
Amandla Stenberg is on the cover of Variety’s annual Power of Young Hollywood issue, out now.
Here’s what the 19-year-old The Hate U Give actress had to say…
On her feeling inspired by Beyoncé: “It made me feel like nothing else had before. It made me feel like I can do that. I can be that confident, razor-sharp, talented, efficient, loving and profound all at once.”
On recently identifying as gay: “I wanted to be transparent about who I was and stand with pride and hopefully, through that, make other people feel proud of their identities. There was definitely a little bit of nerves, but I’m lucky to grow up in an environment where I don’t have to feel repercussions for being myself and I can feel comfortable exploring and finding my truth. I wasn’t afraid because I had a lot of support around me.”
On the future of the industry in the wake of the Time’s Up movement: “I’ve been acting since I was a very little kid, so I have been aware of how the industry works. We’re at a turning point, but we have by no means fixed the misogyny of Hollywood or white patriarchy. But in terms of how we diversify our sets and diversify our on-screen narratives, I definitely think it’s a great time of change.”
For more from Amandla, visit Variety.com.