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Hayden Panettiere Speaks Out About Concerns Over Her Slurred Speech
Hayden Panettiere is sharing her full self with the world.
The Heroes alum recently confirmed that she is bisexual—a topic she shares for the first time in her upcoming May 12 memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning—explaining how her relationship with her sexuality has shifted throughout her life in the spotlight.
“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 Weekly in an interview published May 6. “I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud.”
Because for much of the 36-year-old’s life, she didn’t feel she was able to share her truth with the world.
“It was just never the right time,” she explained. “It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. 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.”
She continued, “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?”
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Hayden also shared she has dated women in her private life, but that her celebrity status made things more challenging.
“It was scary,” she said, “because there were paparazzi always waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere. I had very little privacy. I have dated women. I was much more into women even as a child than I was men.”
It’s partly why the Nashville star—who is mom to daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, 11, with ex Wladimir Klitschko—hasn’t felt ready to fully commit herself to a woman in the past.
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“I have explored it, but because I hadn’t shared this with anybody, I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully emotionally into it,” she said. “Because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide.”
And while the Scream alum has been candid about her struggles within her personal life, including her past addiction and subsequent sobriety journey, the thought of putting the ups and downs of her life into a book still made her hesitate.
“I was terrified,” Hayden admitted. “The first thought that went through my head is, ‘Am I ready to write a book about my life?’ Then I started thinking through my life and going, ‘Gosh, truth is stranger than fiction. I have so many stories already to share.’”
And it was that thought that encouraged her to put pen to paper. “I hope that by sharing them in this book,” she said, “that it helps people to overcome the obstacles they’re going through.”
For more stars who have come out publicly, read on.
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Miley Cyrus
The Hannah Montana alum was asked by Variety in 2016 when she first identified herself as pansexual. As she explained, "I went to the LGBTQ center here in L.A., and I started hearing these stories. I saw one human in particular who didn't identify as male or female. Looking at them, they were both: beautiful and sexy and tough but vulnerable and feminine but masculine. And I related to that person more than I related to anyone in my life."
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Jazz Jennings
For the Dazed spring 2016 issue, the I am Jazz star and Youtuber described her battle with her sexuality by mentioning, "That's what it is to be pansexual, you know—loving people for who they are on the inside, no matter their label. Just loving someone. So I guess I am pansexual, but I don't know because I haven't fallen in love."
MTV
Natalie Negrotti
On an episode The Challenge: Final Reckoning the reality star revealed during a confessional, "So, I'm pansexual, and I'm OK with that now."
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Asia Kate Dillon
Last year the Orange is the New Black star admitted to the Huffington Post that she "identified as pansexual and [has] always felt like [she] had the spiritual, emotional, physical capability of being attracted to any gender."
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
Caitlin Stasey
At the GLAAD Awards in 2014, AfterEllen.com asked the Reign actress if she considered herself pansexual. She responded saying, "Yeah! It's not a big deal to me. I don't really discern a difference between attraction for men or women."
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Janelle Monae
This past April, the famous singer revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone that she identified as more than bisexual, "...later I read about pansexuality and was like, ‘Oh, these are things that I identify with too.' I'm open to learning more about who I am."
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Brooke Candy
In 2014 the American actress explained in an interview with HungerTV, "I'm a feminist, I'm young and I'm gay (though I've now come to the conclusion that I feel more pansexual). I feel like I'm awakening to this new stage of consciousness but my message will always be the same."
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Amandla Stenberg
Two years ago the Hunger Games actress discussed her sexuality in a video for Rookie stating, "I would also use the word pansexual to describe my sexuality. The thing is I use the word bisexual just because I feel like for people who don't necessarily know that vocabulary…it's easier to say I'm bi."
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Courtney Act
This past February the Celebrity Big Brother winner and RuPaul's Drag Race finalist was very candid about how she labels her sexuality in an interview with Attitude Magazine. She mentions, "The reason I identify as pansexual is not because I wander around the street looking at women thinking I wanna bang 'em, it's because I've had sexual and emotional experiences with women, and I don't count that out as being a possibility."
Brendon Urie
Panic! at the Disco's lead vocalist confirmed his sexuality in a Paper Magazine interview. He admitted,"I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don't care. If a person is great, then a person is great [...] I guess this is me coming out as pansexual."
Valerie Macon/Getty Images
Angel Haze
Back in 2013 the American rapper was asked by Fusion TV if she identified as pansexual. She responded, "If I had to identify, that is the term I'd use to describe how I feel."
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