Heartbreak High star Ayesha Madon comes out as bisexual: ‘This is pretty new’
Ayesha Madon, best-known for playing Amerie Wadia in Netflix’s queer comedy drama Heartbreak High, has come out as bisexual.
The star, who has also dipped her toes into theatre and music, said she only realised that she liked women in the past few years.
She added that her first kiss was with a girl called Louise, on whom she had “the biggest crush”.
Speaking to Gay Times, she said: “I only properly admitted, out loud, that I was bisexual two or three years ago. It feels recent. It’s pretty interesting watching myself be attracted to [girls]. My first kiss was with a girl.
“I’ve actually never spoken about my sexuality before in anything, so this is pretty new.”
She went on to share that she first kissed Louise when she was just 11 years old, when they were in acting classes together. “I remember she was chewing gum and in order to kiss her I had to pretend that I wanted to try the gum. We kissed and it was amazing.
“Since then, [with] how much more normalised it’s becoming, it has given me the courage to feel comfortable. Sometimes I feel I’m a fake queer person because I’m not massive on queer culture. Sometimes, I feel that liking girls is not enough.”
The Indian-Australian star, who was brought up in a Zoroastrian-faith household, went on to say: “Growing up, I felt myself being conditioned or gaslighted into thinking that I was straight. I look back now at all these signs that I’ve had crushes on girls my whole life, but in my head, I was like, Oh, that’s just nothing’.”
Madon has starred in Heartbreak High since its release in 2022, with season two dropping in April.
The series follows the sexual exploits of the pupils atHartley High, and features characters from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, including bisexual Malakai Mitchell, played by Thomas Weatherall, demi-sexual class clown Spider White (Bryn Chapman Parish), lesbian Sasha So (Gemma Chua-Tran), non-binary Darren Rivers (James Majoos) and asexual drug dealer Douglas “Ca$h” Piggott (Will McDonald).
The series won an international Emmy Award for best live action kids show last year.
Heartbreak High is streaming on Netflix now.