5 Bisexual Celebs Who Remind Us There's No Timeline For Coming Out

Depending on how you were raised or the community you're a part of, coming out isn't always easy. Although plenty of people have really beautiful, heartwarming stories about coming out, there are, unfortunately, others who don't have such a positive experience. This, of course, comes down to a lack of understanding, ignorance, and sometimes fear. After all, it's human nature for people to be scared of what's foreign to them — it doesn't make it right, it's just how we're conditioned.

While there's no timeline as to when someone should come out, according to a 2024 Gallup poll, 71%, report coming out by the age of 30, with just over half, at 57%, coming out before they turn 22. Bisexuals, per Gallup's findings, tend to be a little more apprehensive about coming out — probably due to the stigma and myths surrounding bisexuality — with most coming out between the ages of 19 and 22, at 18%, while 13% come out between 23 and 29. These numbers prove that coming out bisexual isn't something that everyone does at a specific age and, as we've seen, a lot of people choose to come out well into their careers.

If trying to find the right time to share your bisexuality, know that there is no right time. When you do it is your choice and it doesn't matter if you're 15 or 65. It's all about when it feels right for you.

Sophia Bush was so in denial about her sexuality that a friend actually pointed it out to her. "After my last breakup, one of my best friends looked at me and was like, 'I got to say, that was just painful to watch, and I'm so glad you're getting out of it,'" Bush said in June 2024 on her "Work in Progress" podcast, adding that the friend also suggested Bush may not be as into men as she thought. That gave Bush a reason to look back at her past romantic relationships, including a female French exchange student she fell in love with when she was 16.

Input from others and her own struggles to define her sexuality, while also trying to be a "model wife" during her second marriage, took a toll on Bush. It wouldn't be until she was 41 that she'd put it all in an essay for Glamour in April 2024. "I am so lucky to be here, now. I have real joy. It took me 41 years to get here. And while I marvel at it, I will also make space for people's pain. But I will not carry anyone's projected shame," Bush wrote in the essay. "I finally feel like I can breathe. I don't think I can explain how profound that is. I feel like I was wearing a weighted vest for who knows how long. I hadn't realized how heavy it was until I finally just put it down."

Before her relationship with Christine Marinoni, Cynthia Nixon was in a relationship with Danny Mozes with whom she has two children. But when Nixon did start dating Marinoni back in 2004, it was a bit surprising. (You'd be amazed at how much 20 years can teach us about sexuality.)

Although Nixon never hid her relationship with Marinoni, she has struggled to define her sexuality. After a lot of flip-flopping about it — she actually said homosexuality was a choice in an interview with The New York Times in January 2012 — she told the Daily Beast just a couple of weeks later that she was bisexual, but wasn't a fan of the term. "I don't pull out the 'bisexual' word because nobody likes the bisexuals. Everybody likes to dump on the bisexuals ... We get no respect," Nixon said. When the interviewer pointed out her use of the word 'we,' Nixon doubled down on not liking the word.

It wouldn't be until 2017 in an interview with HuffPo that Nixon would finally — and begrudgingly — embrace bisexuality. "I didn't really identify as bisexual," she said, "but people were so insistent that I pick a ― you know, it caused a huge controversy and everyone wanted to graft on to me this narrative ― [that] I felt that I had just simply been mistaken about myself for all these years and finally the veil was lifted and I was a lesbian. And that was not true."

In June 2019, Willow Smith shared her bisexuality in an episode of Red Table Talk, a talk show hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, per Gay Times. "Personally, male and female, that's all I need," Smith said. "I love men and women equally and so I would definitely want one man, one woman. I feel like I could be polyfidelitous with those two people. I'm not the kind of person that is constantly looking for new sexual experiences." Smith added that emotional connection is important and to find that in two genders would be ideal. "I don't feel like I would feel the need to try to go find more," said Smith.

While Smith's mom, Jada Pinkett Smith's response was basically "you do you, as long you're happy," it was Smith's grandmother who wasn't keen on the idea of a throuple. "There's so many different types of people in this world and so many people to learn from, and I don't see the benefit in... not putting myself in a position to learn as much as I possibly can from as many people as I possibly can," explained Smith.

While some celebrities go to great lengths to hide their bisexuality or make a big deal when they do come out, Alison Brie just let hers roll off her tongue with the same nonchalance one might have when talking about the weather. While promoting their film "Somebody I Used to Know" in February 2023, Brie and her husband Dave Franco made a video for BuzzFeed that involved the two reading tweets. At one point, Franco read a tweet that said, "Listen, I am bisexual for a reason, and that reason is strictly to be used in a threesome by Dave Franco and Alison Brie," and the two high-fived. "That's also why I'm bisexual," said Brie.

In response to his wife's coming out, Franco asked, "You've been waiting for this tweet from someone you don't know who they are or what they look like?" As if having an a-ha moment about what had just happened, Brie said, "Yeah," while Franco confirmed that such a move on Brie's part "makes sense, it checks out."

In 2021, Rolling Stone wrote about queerbaiting — in which someone engages in LGBTQ+ representation only to attract members of the community — and called out Cardi B, among others, for using the marketing tactic. In true Cardi B fashion, the rapper didn't stay silent on the matter. Instead, she took to X and responded, "You do know we was trying to hide a whole baby bump right? Also I'm married to a man but I have express soo much about my bisexuality and my experiences wit girls. All of a sudden 'queer baiting' is the new word & people use it to the ground!"

But Cardi B didn't stop there, explaining that she felt queerbaiting is a term that pressures people into sharing parts about their sexuality that they're not ready to share. Cardi B, herself, came out as bisexual in 2018 after backlash over the lyrics of Rita Ora's song "Girls" which features Cardi B, Bebe Rexha, and Charli XCX. Cardi B responded to the controversy by posting on X, "We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song. I personally myself had experiences with other woman, shiieeett with a lot of woman!"