Matilda star Mara Wilson says she made ’emotional’ decision to come out after Orlando
Matilda star Mara Wilson has suggested that she may not have come out if it wasn’t for the Orlando Pulse massacre in which 49 people died.
At least 49 people were killed and 53 were injured in the shooting at the Pulse gay club in Orlando back in June.
Wilson came out shortly afterwards, sharing a photo of her younger self, she said: “Me at a gay club when I was eighteen. I feel embarrassed looking at it now… being a ‘straight girl’ where I clearly didn’t belong, but I will say, I felt so welcomed.
“I have never had a better experience at a club than I did then. Great music and people. And one of my friends met his partner that night!”.
She continued: “But the LGBTQ community has always felt like home, especially a few years later when I, uh, learned something about myself.
“I *used* to identify as mostly straight. I’ve embraced the Bi/Queer label lately.”
She has now spoken out again, telling PEOPLE magazine: “It was an emotional decision.
“If I had known it was going to trend on Facebook, I don’t know that I would have done it just then. But the vast majority of the feedback has been positive.”
Wilson is often noted as an example of a well-adjusted former child star, and has spoken about LGBT issues and sexual health in the past.
Last year she tore into the film ‘Stonewall’ for its central white, gay, male characters and supposed lack of diversity.
She said: “Has anyone told [director] Roland Emmerich that Stonewall wasn’t one of the parties at his house exclusively for young, fit, white, gay men.
“Go ahead and have your parties, but don’t try to alter history.
“It’s just sad… Emmerich has said it was the studios that made him change it, buuuuut somehow I’m not buying it.”
