Mara Wilson: Matilda star addresses her sexuality in wake of Orlando shootings
Wilson now identifies as bi/queer
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Your support makes all the difference.Mara Wilson has thanked her fans for support after coming out as bisexual in the wake of the Florida nightclub shooting.
The Matilda star, 28, spoke about her sexuality on Twitter days after 49 people were killed in a devastating attack on an LGBT nightclub in Orlando.
After paying tribute to the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern US history, Wilson shared a picture of herself aged 18 in a gay club for the first time.
“I haven’t been to one since college, except once when a friend brought me along. I didn’t feel like I belonged there,” she wrote.
“But the LGBTQ community has always felt like home, especially a few years later when I, uh, learned something about myself.”
When asked by one fan if she identified as bisexual, she responded by deeming herself a ‘2’ on the Kinsey scale.
The Kinsey scale ranges from exclusively heterosexual (0) to exclusively homosexual (6). Two relates to being predominately heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual.
Wilson told a fan: “I used to identify as mostly straight. I’ve embraced the Bi/Queer label lately.”
A former child star who also appeared alongside Robin Williams in Mrs Doubtfire, Wilson has more recently written a book, Where am I Now? detailing her experiences growing up on film sets and as a young adult in a series of essays.
The Los Angeles native penned an affecting essay remembering Williams after his death in 2014 on her blog, MaraWilsonWritesStuff, who she said “always reminded me a little of my father”.
Wilson did not return to mainstream acting after 2000, although she did make a brief appearance in the Comedy Central sitcom Broad City in 2016. In 2012, she published a post answering the question she hears the most: “Are you still acting?” In short, Wilson's answer was no, at least not in film. However, she has pursued a number of stage and voice roles.
“I don’t have any plans to pursue film acting. It’s not my ‘thing’ anymore, if it ever was,” she wrote.
“Here is something no real celebrity will ever tell you: film acting is not very fun. Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the director’s eyes, you 'get it right,' does not allow for very much creative freedom. The best times I had on film sets were the times the director let me express myself, but those were rare.
“Every time I see a pretty young girl on the subway reading sides for an audition, my only thought is, ‘Man, am I glad I’m not doing that anymore.’ I never feel nostalgia, just relief.”
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