Samira Wiley reveals she was outed by Orange Is the New Black cast mate

Samira Wiley has revealed she was left in tears when she was outed in the media by an Orange is the New Black cast mate.

Wiley played lesbian fan favourite Poussey Washington on the Netflix series, and recently got married to OITNB writer Lauren Morelli in real life.

But in an interview this week, Wiley revealed she was in the closet when she first started the role in 2013, and was actually outed by another member of the cast.

The actress spoke to WNYC’s Nancy podcast about what went down.

Samira Wiley (Netflix)

She said: “From the beginning I was playing a gay character, I always thought of her in that way… [but] first season, I wasn’t out at all.

“But someone from the cast actually, was doing an interview and talking about out gay actors in the cast. They mentioned my name and I saw it in print, and I cried. I cried a lot.

“I tried to get it taken down. Look, I had a journey, I was not always a super open-hearted gay gay-mo!”

She added: “That’s something that somebody took from me, you know? You should be able to come out on your own terms, so that was probably a little deeper.”

The actor did not name the cast member or the publication that outed her.

Despite the invasion of her privacy, playing the role also helped Wiley come to terms with herself, aside from introducing her to her future wife.

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