Janelle Monáe comes out as non-binary
The R&B star revealed the news on a recent episode of Red Table Talk.
Janelle Monáe addressed their long-discussed gender identity on Wednesday's episode of Jada Pinkett Smith's Red Table Talk. “I’m non-binary, so I just don’t see myself as a woman solely,” they told Jada, Willow, and Gammy. “I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she. And if I am from God, I am everything.”
Monáe has spoken on their gender and sexuality in the past. In 2018, they came out as pansexual, and in 2020, they tweeted "#IAmNonbinary" but later told The Cut they'd merely meant to raise awareness and express their support for the LGBTQ+ community on Nonbinary Day. Yesterday, though, they said they'd only walked back their statement because they hadn't yet fully processed the decision to come out to the world again, or had the time to discuss it with the people closest to them.
“I wasn’t ready to have my family question my personal life or get calls from people who still look at me as 'Little Pumpkin,'" they explained. "I needed to talk to my dad who was just great. My sister knew already because I’ve been in monogamous relationships, I’ve been in polyamorous relationships. But I knew that I couldn’t be Little Pumpkin. I couldn’t be little Janelle.”
Watch the full interview below.