Raven-Symoné On Why She Was 'Scared' To Play A Lesbian

Raven-Symoné has spent most of her life as a public figure, but for most of it, she was hiding a pretty big secret. The actress and talk show host dodged speculation about her sexuality for years, before finally coming out as gay in 2013. Now, in a social media conversation with her friend and one-time co-star Garcelle Beauvais, she’s sharing more about her journey to self-discovery and acceptance.

During the chat, the conversation turned towards a film that Raven and Garcelle starred in together, called A Girl Like Grace. In the film, Raven played a lesbian. She admits she had reservations about the role.

“I was scared. I was scared for my mom to see it. I was scared for my mom to see me kiss a girl on screen,” she says. “That was a lot of mixed emotions that I’m still ironing out. Nothing wrong with it, it’s just when I watch it, I see the clip where I’m shaking and it’s like my legs spread open. I’m like ‘Oh My gosh!’”

She adds, “That’s all [that] you’ll ever see of my body, ever.”

She went on to talk about the difficulties she faced coming to terms with her sexuality as a young person. “It’s hard though,” she says. “I remember my mom used to be like he’s so sexy, and I’m like, but she’s sexy too. Why don’t you say that? Why am I the only one thinking that she’s sexy too? But, you’re only talking about him. Is something wrong with me?”

Raven first publicly addressed the rumors in 2012, when she tweeted, “My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I’m dating to know. I’m not one for a public display of my life.” A year later, however, she appeared to come out publicly after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision legalizing gay marriage. “I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you,” she tweeted at the time.