LGBTQ+ CelebritiesLists of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and all other kinds of celebs working in the entertainment industry and in the public eye.
Gay, bisexual, lesbian, and transgender people started to gain more support in the 2000s. Actors, writers, and musicians have all publicly come out since 2000. Many famous LQBTQ+ people came out in the media, while others used tools like Facebook and Twitter to make their announcements. This list of celebrities who came out in the 2000s has been loosely ranked by fame and popularity.
Who is the most famous celebrity who came out in the 2000s? Rosie O'Donnell might be a candidate. She publicly came out in 2002 at an Ovarian Cancer Research benefit at Carolines Comedy Club and has since been a fierce advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, marriage equality, and adoption rights.
Jodie Foster publicly came out in 2013 during her Golden Globes acceptance speech, saying, "I already did my coming out about 1,000 years ago back in the Stone Age, those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers, and then gradually and proudly to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met."
Other celebs who came out since the new millennium include Wentworth Miller, Neil Patrick Harris, and Colton Haynes.
Noah Schnapp, who stars as Will Byers on Netflix hit Stranger Things, a character believed to be closeted himself, came out as gay on January 5, 2023.
The actor shared the news on TikTok, with a caption reading, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.” The text in the video says, ”When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years, and all they said was, ‘We know.’"
Noah Schnapp (born October 3, 2004) is an American actor best known for his role as Will Byers in the Netflix science fiction series Stranger Things. He voiced Charlie Brown in The Peanuts Movie and also appeared in the 2015 Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies.
Emma Corrin first came out as queer in April 2021, when they captioned an Instagram photo, “ur fave queer bride.”
Then, in an interview with Vogue shared on July 6, 2022, Corrin said, "I feel much more seen when I’m referred to as ‘they,’ but my closest friends, they will call me ‘she,’ and I don’t mind, because I know they know me. In my mind, gender just isn’t something that feels fixed and I don’t know if it ever will be; there might always be some fluidity there for me.”
Emma-Louise Corrin (born December 13, 1995) is an English actress. She is best known for portraying Diana, Princess of Wales, in the fourth season of the Netflix period drama programme The Crown.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power writer Nate Stevenson came out via a comic shared on June 30, 2022.
Stevenson, who previously went by ND, began his comic with, "Hello! I have something to tell you! My name is Nate! And my pronouns are he/him!... But I am not (entirely) a boy.” Stevenson came out as nonbinary in 2020, and underwent top surgery (which he shared on Instagram in December 2020).
Leon Brown, the only child of Sister Wives stars Meri and Leon Brown, came out as transgender via an Instagram post shared on June 28, 2022:
“So here’s me, definitely not having almost any of my sh*t figured out, to let you know that I am trans. My name is Leon or Leo (I love both) and my pronouns are they/them. I remember the first time that I knew I wasn’t a girl. I was pretty young & unfortunately I grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered & restrictive. so I continued to be socialized as a girl & later a woman. And here’s the thing, I’m finally ready to share my favorite self with the world. And that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic."
Leon is engaged to Audrey Kiss, who also came out as transgender in December 2021.
Rebel Wilson came out while also introducing her girlfriend - Lemon Ve Limon founder, Ramona Agruma - in an Instagram post shared on June 9, 2022.
“I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess. #loveislove,” she captioned the photo of the couple.
The month before, Wilson had teased that she was in a happy relationship, without divulging with whom. “I was on and off on the Raya app, but this was a friend setup. He had known both of us for at least five years and he thought we would hit it off — and then we did," she said on the U Up podcast.
Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, writer, and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, she began appearing as Toula on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) comedy series Pizza and the sketch comedy series The Wedge. In 2008, Wilson wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride. The following year, she won the Tropfest best actress award for her role in Bargain and made a guest appearance in City Homicide. Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson was cast as Brynn in the feature film Bridesmaids.
Wilson also appeared in A Few Best Men, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Struck by Lightning, leading Variety to name her one of their "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011." She also appeared as Becky in Bachelorette and starred in the musical comedy Pitch Perfect film series as Fat Amy, a role that earned her several award nominations and wins, including the MTV Best Breakthrough Performance Award and a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress. She has also created and starred in Super Fun Night, a television comedy that aired for one season on ABC.
Janelle Monáe came out as nonbinary during the April 21, 2022, Red Table Talk with co-hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris.
“I just don’t see myself as a woman solely. I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.' And if I am from God, I am everything. But I just see everything that I am, beyond the binary.” However, the singer noted they would “always aways stand with women" and “always stand with Black women.”
Monáe had previously come out as pansexual in 2018, and prior to that, they had considered themself bisexual. However, they said pansexual fit more because they “see people's energy” before noticing how they present themselves, which “opens them up to fall in love with any beautiful spirit.”
Janelle Monáe Robinson (; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and producer who is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society.
Monáe's musical career began in 2003 when she released an unofficial demo album titled The Audition. In 2007, she publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). It peaked at number two on the US Top Heatseekers chart, and in 2010, through Bad Boy Records, Monáe released her first full-length studio album, The ArchAndroid, a concept album and sequel to her first EP.In 2011, Monáe was featured as a guest vocalist on fun.'s single "We Are Young", which achieved major commercial success, topping the charts of over ten countries and garnering Monáe a wider audience. Her second studio album, The Electric Lady, was released in 2013 and debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, serving as the fourth and fifth installments of her seven-part Metropolis concept series.In 2016, Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high profile productions; she starred in Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson and also starred in Moonlight. Hidden Figures was a box office success, while Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th annual ceremony.
Monáe's third studio album, Dirty Computer, also described as a concept album, was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim; it was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications and earned Monáe two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and was further promoted by Monáe's Dirty Computer Tour, which lasted from June–August 2018.Throughout her career, Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. She won a MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2010. She was also honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018. In 2012, she became a CoverGirl spokeswoman. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 "Janelle Monáe Day" in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of her artistry and social leadership.
