Tessa Thompson Just Publicly Came Out As Bisexual

Tessa Thompson, actress/goddess who has recently appeared in Thor: Ragnarok, Annihilation and Sorry to Bother You, recently sat down with Net-a-Porter to talk about Hollywood, race, and the #MeToo movement. She also opens up one of the most speculated aspects of her identity: her sexuality.

“I can take things for granted because of my family – it’s so free and you can be anything that you want to be,” Thompson said. “I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion.”

While she talked about her sexuality, she also gave some insight into her relationship with Janelle Monae, who many have theorized she’s dating based on photos and social media, as well as her role as Monae’s love interest in her short art film Dirty Computer. 

“We love each other deeply,” she said. “We’re so close, we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, that’s okay. It doesn’t bother me.”

Monae, who had previously kept her sexuality private, came out as pansexual earlier this year after people began speculating about her and Thompson’s relationship. Her song, Pynk, is an anthem about loving women, while Make Me Feel touches upon her attraction to both men and women. Thompson stars is those music videos as well.

It’s tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we’re both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence,” Thompson said.

That, at least, is understandable. When you have a voice, you want to use it. But is it worth putting your privacy in jeopardy? As someone in the limelight, so many aspects of your life is already dissected by the media and fans.

So maybe Thompson and Monae are dating. Maybe they’re not. I guess it’s not really our business.