The 61-year-old 'King Richard' actress made an appearance Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards while donning a jacker with the word 'Queer' emblazoned onto it.
- Jun 2, 2022
AceShowbiz - Aunjanue Ellis didn't come out as bisexual because "nobody asked." Having made an appearance Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards with the word "Queer" emblazoned onto her jacket, the "Lovecraft Country" star was left wondering why no-one paid attention to it.
"I was thinking, 'Why didn't more people pay attention to that?' And I was like, they probably thought it said 'Queen.' It wasn't that I was expecting any sort of major reaction or anything like that," the 53-year-old actress shared. "One of my family members noticed, but nobody else did."
Aunjanue, who was promoting her role in Will Smith movie "King Richard" at the time, went on to explain that while she is "very clear" about her sexuality but was unsure how to work it into conversations with the press.
The "61st Street" star told Variety, "The way that I live my life, around the people that I live my life around, I am public about it. I'm very clear about being bisexual. I have a sweatshirt that says 'Girl Bi' that I wear everywhere. But nobody asked."
"How do you work that into the conversation, in the middle of me talking about this movie? I'm not that chick. My job was to talk about 'King Richard,' the Williams family, these wonderful young women I worked with, Will Smith's incredible work in that movie," she added. "I wasn't going to be like, 'And by the way, in case you ain't heard yet…' Because that's artificial."
"[With my jacket] they were accommodating my desires to honor people in my life," she continued explaining, "and this was one of the things that I also wanted to honor - in this way, and among black women particularly."
