The Handmaid’s Tale star Samira Wiley has opened up about being outed in a new interview.
Since landing her breakout role as Poussey Washington in Orange is the New Black, Wiley has achieved massive success as an openly gay actor in Hollywood.
However before she was able to live in her truth, Wiley was robbed of her coming out moment by one of her OITNB co-stars.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Wiley revealed that she “burst into tears” after the unnamed individual outed her in a magazine article.
“My publicist got it off the internet in 30 minutes, but what’s 30 minutes on the internet? A lifetime. Obviously, no one cared,” she explained.
Wiley went on to say that she was more upset that her coming out moment was taken from her.
“It was mine. It’s not yours to give someone. I felt like they took something from me,” she said.
The young talent also told the publication that she purposely didn’t talk about her sexuality before coming out because “people just assumed” she was gay.
After being asked if the assumptions stemmed from her portrayal of Poussey, Wiley replied: “Yeah, and my Instagram and my gender presentation, and all of that. Also, they weren’t wrong.”
Even though her coming out moment was taken from her, Wiley persevered and is now one of Hollywood’s most recognised LGBTQ+ talents.
This isn’t the first time Wiley has opened up about her emotional coming-out journey.
Back in 2018, the Will and Grace star told the WNYC’S Nancy Podcast that she wasn’t “out at all” during the first season of OITNB.
“Someone from my cast actually, during the interview, they were talking about out gay actors in the cast. They mentioned my name and I saw it in print, and I cried. I cried a lot,” she said.
“That’s something somebody took from me. You should be able to come out on your own terms.”
However through playing Poussey, Wiley revealed that she became more comfortable with her identity.
“I wasn’t out in the beginning and I think falling in love with Poussey helped me fall in love with myself as well,” she explained.
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