26 celebs who came out in 2025 (so far)
While many people, especially in younger generations, may not see "coming out" as a big deal in 2025, it still is for many others.
Coming out not only allows a person to live as their most authentic self, but also lets those with a spotlight show others what kind of possibilities there are in life.
It may be considered an aphorism today, but the phrase "if you can't see it, you can't be it" still holds a lot of truth.
These celebrities who came out in 2025 are reminding us that coming out can still be a powerful tool for self-empowerment and raising awareness that LGBTQ+ people can look any way and come from anywhere.
Celebrities who came out in 2024 included Maren Morris, Kelly Marie Tran, Tom Hollander, and Amanda Tori Meating came out. In 2025, a new list of stars have embraced their most authentic selves.
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Known for starring in the Pitch Perfect movies and the Netflix show You, actor Anna Camp casually came out this year in a TikTok interview where she was asked what she expects from a guy on a date. "Well, I don't expect anything from a guy anymore because I'm dating a woman, and it's great," she answered, gesturing to her girlfriend Jade Whipkey.
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Actor, comedian, and performer Paul Reubens, best known for his Pee-wee Herman character, came out in the documentary Pee-wee as Himself, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Reubens, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 70, would often make veiled references to his sexuality late in his career, but didn't come out until the posthumous documentary.
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Dancer, singer, and reality star JoJo Siwa had a busy time coming out on Celebrity Big Brother UK this year. When Siwa joined the show, they updated their pronouns to "anything you feel on that day, whatever I look like, you can call me."
Later on the show, they opened up about their gender. "Essentially, you have female, you have male. I've met a lot of females, love them, don't feel like I'm them. Met a lot of males, love them, definitely not them," she said. "Met a lot of people in my life that are nonbinary, and these beautiful nonbinary people are who I feel the most like."
She also realized that she wanted to change her label. "I feel, like, so queer, do you konw what I mean? I think that's the thing, I've always told myself I'm a lesbian, and I thinb here, I've realized: 'Oh, I'm not a lesbian, I'm queer.' And that's really cool," she said. "I'm switching letters! F**k the 'L,' I'm going to the 'Q'!"
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De Niro, who is the 29-year-old daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro, came out as a trans woman in a cover story for Them this year.
"I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me," De Niro explained. "I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way."
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Reid is one of the most popular authors today, with hit books like 2017's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, 2019's Daisy Jones and The Six, and her new novel, Atmosphere.
"My attraction to women is a room in the house that is my identity — Alex [husband] understood this book was about me spending time in that room," the author told Time magazine about writing queer women characters. "He was so excited for me, like, 'What a great way for you to express this side of you.' And he helped me get the book to be as romantic and beautiful as it could be."
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RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 star Aja had come out as a trans woman back in 2021, and this year, came out as bisexual. "Had the realization today that I am definitely bisexual and have been in denial about it," she wrote on X. "Welp. I guess I'm coming out. I'm bisexual."
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In a post celebrating her 34th birthday, RuPaul's Drag Race superstar Valentina came out as a trans woman.
"Hello everyone, it's me Valentina Xunaxi. Today is my bday. I turn 34," she wrote on Instagram. "For some time now I've been in transition, I've been doing it privately but today I wanted to open and share with you all. Along the way I've felt pressure to come forward, so I've decided and wanted to take today to declare myself as a transgender woman. I welcome all the love, support and protection from my dear fans. Thank you so much."
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Country singer Tanner Adell, who had the viral hit "Buckle Bunny" and was featured on Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter album on the song "BLACKBIIRD," came out as pansexual.
"It's funny when people ask me my sexual orientation, but I feel like you should be able to hear that in my music," she said. "There's more of that coming."
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In an essay for Them, comedian and writer James Tom came out with a new name and attraction to men.
"Testosterone allowed me to access a latent desire for men that had likely always existed, but felt impossible to realize as a 'woman.' As a boy, though, dick became ubiquitous," Tom wrote. "There are cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see. I took to f****try like a fish in water, and with my new gay surroundings came new ways for people to perceive me, and more importantly, new ways for me to perceive myself."
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Nonbinary actor Jack Haven, known for starring in films like I Saw the TV Glow and the Netflix show Atypical, announced a name change this year. "Haven is after my great great uncle, Haven Gillespie who was a songwriter known for the xmas hit 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town,' which he wrote on the subway in 15 minutes. and first name Jack has stuck," Haven wrote on Instagram. "Two years ago in a workshop led by @saman_arastoo I began using this name. I said I was using it in safe spaces. Saman said use it in dangerous spaces. So I use it in the mens bathroom."
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British alt-pop singer Lola Young came out as bisexual in reply to a TikTok comment saying "no man deserves this" posted on a video of her singing. "I like p***y as well u kno," Young replied.
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Actor Suprya Ganesh, who plays Dr. Samira Mohan on the hit HBO Max series The Pitt, opened up about being queer and using she/they pronouns in an interview with Variety this year.
"There are a couple of times where I'm existing outside of [femme-ness], and I don't always totally feel like I'm fitting into what I think is a very white-conceived perception of femininity," they said. "I also want queer brown women to look at me and know that that's someone they can turn to and relate to."Barry Diller
The billionaire media mogul and longtime husband of fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg came out as "bi with Di," saying he his gay and von Furstenberg is the only woman he's loved in his new memoir, Who Knew.
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K-pop singer Bain, who is a member of the group JUST B, came out during a concert in April this year.
All right, before I sing this next song, tonight I wanna share something with you guys," he said. "I'm f**king proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community." Bain then performed a cover of Lady Gaga's gay anthem "Born This Way."
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Chrichillo is a reality TV star who competed on Survivor and came out as trans in an essay for Cosmopolitan.
"I didn't come back to a spouse or a full-time career, like many of my castmates did,' he said in the essay. "I didn't have a passion to replace the 15-year quest that was getting cast. When I think about my future, there's a lot of blurriness. But there's a lifelong accumulation of artifacts that has pulled my identity into focus, inside the museum of my own transness."
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This Olympic runner, who won a bronze medal in the 1500-meter race at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, opened up about his sexuality and his current relationship this year.
On an Instagram post showing pictures of him with another man, Nuguse wrote, "Introducing my boyfriend, Julian. Can't believe we're already one year in my love 💛(Don't act so surprised)."
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Known professionally as Lara Raj, this singer and member of the group Katseye opened up about her sexuality on the social media platform Weverse. "I knew I was half fruitcake when i was like 8 so i really was wanting everybody," she wrote. "Honestly probably before 8. Isn't 'half fruitcake' such a good way to explain it without saying it?"
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Gymnast Jade Carey, who has two gold medals and a bronze as a part of the 2020 and 2024 USA Gymnastics teams, came out as queer and revealed she is dating Aimee Sinacola, director of creative content for the University of Oregon Ducks.
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Isabella is a comic writer known for creating the DC character Black Lightning, as well as Marvel characters Misty Knight and Tigra. She came out as a trans woman this year at the age of 73. "Keep Calm and Yes I'm Transgender," she posted on social media.
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Floyd, known for playing Neff in the Netflix series Inventing Anna and Dr. Simone Griffith on Grey's Anatomy, opened up about her sexuality on the Made it Out podcast. After revealing that her father came out as gay in his 50s, she said, "So funnily enough, I was pretty closeted growing up. I've had relationships with people of all sorts of gender identities. So I myself, I'm still looking for a definition. I love the word queer because it sort of holds it all."
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Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia is a social media star and podcast host who previously dated country singer Zach Bryan. This year, she told her BFFs podcast cohost Josh Richards that she's not interested in having "a boyfriend, like, ever again," and added, "Everyone's saying I'm a lesbian, which is fine. … I've dabbled for sure. I'm thinking maybe girls is my play. I think that they're better, so maybe I really am fully a lesbian, so maybe that's why none of my relationships with men have worked out. But I don't know. Time will tell."
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Danish professional handballer and podcast host Jensen came out this year in a post on Instagram. "I am gay. Three words that should, in reality, be easy to say, but for many years, I've been afraid to be open about it," he said in his post.
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Stękała is a Polish ski jumper who took the bronze medal in the 2021 World Championships. He came out in an Instagram post honoring his late partner, who passed away in November.
"I wondered for a long time if I would ever find the strength to write these words. For years, I lived in the shadow of fear, in hiding, afraid that who I really am could destroy me," Stękała wrote in a post about his partner of eight years. "Today, however, I don't want to run away anymore. I want you to really know me. I'm gay. For years, I hid it from the world – from you, from the media, and sometimes even from myself."
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Bennington is the daughter of late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. She came out as trans in an Instagram post on Valentine's Day this year. "In August of last year, I decided to take the path of happiness and being true to myself," she wrote. "I came out as transgender and started hormone replacement therapy, and it has been the best decision I've ever made in my life," she continued.
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McGraw is the daughter of country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and while her friends and family have known she is an "out and proud queer, bisexual woman" for a while, the public found out this year during Pride Month. McGraw posted on Instagram that tabloids were saying she "came out," but said she was already out and she has and "will always be very vocal about my support of LGBTQIA+ rights and the community."
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Rose is the lead singer of the music group The Vandoliers. She came out as trans to Rolling Stone. "I've always been very arms-length with people because of this," she said. "I didn't want anybody to ever find out about it. For 26 years, I've tried to be anything but a trans person, and it never went away."
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As weird as it sounds, it was really important for me to not see a Julie James that had healed her trauma. She needed to stay in trauma, and she would've stayed in trauma, so this version of her feels right. During her reintroduction, is she wearing a Cure T-shirt underneath her jacket? Yes, I really liked the idea of her being a professor in a vintage T-shirt, and Jenn [Kaytin Robinson] is the one who chose The Cure. I'm also a massive Cure fan, so I was really psyched about that. It was just us wanting to be nostalgic by also having her hold on to some nostalgia. Originally, she was going to be in a shirt and tie when you first saw her, and then she would wear the vintage T-shirt later. But Jenn was like, 'No, we've got to go with the vintage T-shirt right off the top.' And I just loved that. You haven't played Julie in 27 years. How quickly did you find her again? Well, what's beautiful about this movie is that she feels like the same person from the original movie, but she also feels like a new character in some ways because of all the time that's gone by. But I did rewatch [I Know What You Did Last Summer]. It was my kids' first horror movie. They really wanted to watch it together, and so I watched it with them, which was a total trip. So it was really fun and exciting and interesting to go back and watch that girl on the road that night. When you watched it, could you focus on performance and story? Or were you more consumed by your behind-the-scenes memories? I think it was a mixture, but I did learn a lot about Julie that I didn't notice at the time. One big thing in particular that we tried to bring back into the new movie is that I never realized how silenced she was on the road that night. If you had asked me at 18 or even at 20, I would've said, 'Yeah, we were all in it together,' but that really isn't the case. 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[Writer's Note: I then asked Hewitt if she was referring to a specific scene from an earlier movie, and she confirmed that I was on the right track.] You incurred some fishing hook-related damage while making the first two movies. Were you able to come out of this one unscathed? I was! The only thing is that my feet were sore from standing in very tall shoes. I am now in my 40s, and I choose not to torture my feet in high heels most of the time. But other than that, no. All was well. As previewed in the trailer, Julie's famous line of, 'What are you waiting for, huh?' was bound to be incorporated somehow, and I liked that it had utility. It wasn't an empty reference. Right. Were you very particular about its usage in this? Not in its usage, but it had to be said again, and it had to be said in a fresh way. And I think we accomplished that. The meaning behind this one is very different, and I love where it is [in the movie]. That line has just become such a special part of my life; I hear it all the time. Even my kids say it to me, especially my 3-year-old, which is hilarious. He's in his, 'What are you waiting for?' phase, and it's really funny. So it holds a special place in my heart. The 'huh' really makes that line what it is. You put this extra emphasis on it, and it really showed Julie's fighting spirit in the first movie. Thank you. A lot of people leave out the 'huh' when they say it back to me, and so I appreciate that. Yeah, for me, the 'huh' was her gumption. The 'huh' was her challenge: 'Come at me! Bring what you're going to bring. I'm here, I'm ready, let's go.' So the 'huh' is important. There's an internet legend that the entire moment was conceived by a contest-winning child. Is that true? So here's the thing about that. I was 18 years old when we filmed the first movie, and all I know is that there was a kid visiting the movie that day. He was a horror fan, but I don't know who he was. I was 18, I'm now 46, and Lord knows I've had three children, so I don't remember everything perfectly. But I know that he was there that day, and I thought that he was a part of that moment, somehow, because we were all at a monitor. Originally, in the script, I wasn't spinning around and yelling, 'What are you waiting for?' It was a different kind of moment, and it suddenly became that moment. I've heard different versions of it, but I do remember a kid being there and him being a horror movie fan. So he was a part of that conversation, somehow. Was it his designed moment? I don't know. But I somehow ended up spinning around in the street that day, screaming that line that became very iconic. So whoever created it, I'm very grateful. 'And that kid's name was Damien Chazelle.' (Laughs.) Could you imagine? According to another internet legend, Jamie Lee Curtis was filming a different movie near your set in North Carolina, and so she would often come by to lend you emotional support. Is there any truth to that? No! But I've known Jamie since I was 14. She is a very supportive, amazing person, but I did not see her during [filming]. That would've been awesome. I love her. Have these movies altered your behavior at all? Do you avoid late night drives, tanning beds and fishing boats? (Laughs.) When we were filming the first movie, I was already terrified of horror movies, and I was very aware of the fact that I was actually filming in a real fishing village in Southport, North Carolina. I was like, 'There's fishermen everywhere, and I've been running from one all day. And now I'm supposed to go home and go to sleep? How is that going to work out?' But since this movie has come back into my life, I'm a tad bit more paranoid. I left that behind for a while, and now I'm definitely like, 'What was that!?' (Laughs.) I'm a little jumpier now that the movie is back in my life. Most of the new movie was shot in Australia for the necessity of summer weather, and I loved how Jennifer Kaytin Robinson used the unrecognizable locations to the movie's advantage. Southport's gentrification by an uber-rich land developer is a huge part of the story. Yeah, it's brilliant. If I could say anything to the audience, everything that you want this movie to be, it is. And everything new and fresh is so worth it and so awesome. It's a perfect way to come back in all facets. Sony is putting the new movie out just like they did the first two. They also have the rights to your beloved teen rom-com, (1998). Can you try to get that property back on its feet soon? I've been asking! I've asked a few times now. Yes, I would love that. ***I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) opens July 18 in movie theaters nationwide. 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