14-year-old Disney star opens up about her sexuality

A 14-year-old Disney actress has opened up about her sexuality, and how she doesn’t want to label herself.

Rowan Blanchard plays lead character Riley Matthews on the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World – the sequel to sitcom Boy Meets World.

She opened up about her sexuality in a Twitter post, responding to a fan who was hoping her character comes out as bisexual.

The actress responded: “Would really be here for this!

“If not Riley- it’s vvv important to me, being queer, that there is representation on our show.

“& being queer to me just means not putting a label on sexuality- just existing.”

After casually dropping that titbit into conversation, the 14-year-old Disney star was surprised by the reaction from fans.

Responding to claims that her sexuality was “obvious”, she hit back: “literally what the hell u don’t ‘know’ someone’s sexuality”.

She subsequently wrote: “In my life – only ever liked boys.

“However I personally don’t wanna label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with—just existing;)

“[I’m] open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer.”

Former Disney star Miley Cyrus, who played Hannah Montana, has been at the forefront of the movement to resist labelling sexuality and gender identity.

Earlier this year, Cyrus explained the difference for her between dating men and women: “That made me feel [dating a man] like I had to be a femme-bot, which I’m not. And then when I was with a girl, I felt like, ‘Oh sh-t, she’s going to need someone to protect her, so I’m going to need to have this macho energy.’ And that didn’t feel right either.”

• Dec 01 2023

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