Matilda star explains why Miss Honey is a lesbian icon: ‘She’d come and rescue you’

Embeth Davidtz, the actress behind the world’s most adored teacher Miss Honey, has explained why she thinks her Matilda character is an out-and-out lesbian icon.

In the near 30 years since Roald Dahl’s classic was adapted for the big screen, Miss Honey has been heralded as a staunch LGBTQ+ ally, and the ideal girlfriend for any love longing lesbian.

She is, as one fan site put it, the “original lesbian cottagecore queen” thanks to her quaint, fairytale home shrouded in flowers, in which she spends time baking and (probably) crocheting.

In the classroom, she’s a protector, a safe space, the encapsulation of every gay child’s relationship with their English teacher, and the definition of the viral “I’d come out to her” meme.

“Find me a lesbian who doesn’t want a kind, cottagecore girlfriend with incorruptible values and ethics,” wrote one Miss Honey fanatic in sapphic publication AfterEllen.

It seems that Embeth Davidtz is well aware of Miss Honey’s resonance with queer women, too.

Speaking to The Independent recently, the actress, who has recently made her directorial debut in chilling new drama film Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, agreed that Miss Honey now “represents something so much bigger” than the Matilda team initially thought. 

“She’s become a gay icon now,” Davidtz said, clarifying: “For lots of young girls, especially.”

“I think we all have this idealised version of a mother, a teacher, a guardian or a friend when we’re young, and Miss Honey is just someone who would really protect you when the chips are down. If you’re neglected, she’d come and rescue you,” she explained.

“If you’re realising that you’re gay and can’t tell anybody just yet, she would see you and understand you and accept you. She just came to represent something so much bigger than what we knew at the time.”

Whether you’re a Matilda, an outsider abandoned by your family, an Amanda Thripp, bullied by those more powerful than you, or a Bruce Bogtrotter, humiliated in your search for belonging, Miss Honey is there, with the warmest smile and softest voice you’ve ever heard.

Or, if you’re a queer woman, you might just find her perfectly preened hair and bookish aura very attractive.

In 2018, Mara Wilson, the bisexual actress who played young Matilda, agreed that Miss Honey was a confirmed gay icon.

Asked by a fan why so many lesbians have an affiliation with Matilda, Wilson said: “It was one of the few children’s films to show a strong, resilient female character overcome adversity and a family that did not understand her to create her own family and her own happiness through hard work and friendship.”

She added: “Also, they all have crushes on Miss Honey.”

In 2022, Lashana Lynch, who played Miss Honey in Matilda the Musical, the film adaptation of the musical adaptation of the book Matilda – exhale – further explained why she thinks the character is so cherished by queer women.

“When there’s a character that is beloved, that represents everything to you and can speak to all people, all races, all sexes, all walks of life, then that is the perfect character,” she said.”

“You don’t have to do anything else apart from just being, and every community is going to get what they need from this one person.

“That’s really special. That’s a secret weapon. If you can have a character like that in every film or every play or every book that everyone from every walk of life can take something from.”

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.