Amber Heard is what people might colloquially refer to as a badass. She's an accomplished actress, an outspoken advocate for domestic violence survivors, and also the coolest looking sea queen in the upcoming Justice League movie. But when it comes to being defined by her sexuality, Amber's experience couldn't be more relatable.
In Allure's December cover story, Amber shared that, early in her career, she was told to mask her sexuality so she could get more roles in Hollywood. She refused — but that doesn't mean she's content to label or explicitly define her sexual orientation. When asked whether she identified as bisexual, Amber said, "I don't identify as anything."
"I'm a person. I like who I like," she continued. "I happened to be dating a woman, and people started taking pictures of us walking to our car after dinner. I [was] holding her hand, and I realized that I have two options: I can let go of her hand and, when asked about it, I can say that my private life is my private life. Or I could not let go and own it." Obviously, she owned it. "Everyone told me, 'You cannot do this.' I had played opposite Nicolas Cage [in one movie], and in another I was playing opposite Johnny [Depp]. And everyone said, 'You're throwing it all away. You can't do this to your career.' And I said, 'I cannot do this any other way. Watch me.'"
"They pointed to no other working romantic lead, no other actress, that was out," added Amber. "I didn't come out. I was never in."
Amber went on to explain why she feels so constrained by labels for sexual identity. "It's limiting, that LGBTQ thing," she said. "It served a function as an umbrella for marginalized people to whom rights were being denied, but it loses its efficacy because of the nuanced nature of humanity. As we become more educated and expand the facts of our nature, we keep adding letters. It was a great shield, but now we're stuck behind it. It's so important to resist labels. I don't care how many letters you add. At some point, it's going to spell 'WE ARE HUMAN.'"
This is exactly it. You're allowed to identify yourself using whatever label you want or none at all. People who identify as bisexual are often told biphobic myths about the validity of their sexuality, and bisexual women in particular face more domestic and sexual violence than either gay or straight women, so proudly identifying as bisexual can be super empowering to a lot of people. Plus, a survey earlier this year found that a majority of young people identify as something other than traditionally straight, so putting a name to your identity can be a way of combating heteronormativity. At the same time, 47% of people in the survey said they don't want to strictly define their sexuality, just like Amber.
Whether you want to use labels or not, your sexuality is always valid.
Related: Amber Heard Speaks Out About Domestic Violence
