His life, his terms. Lucas Hedges believes that sexual orientation is complex — and shouldn’t be perceived as something that’s easy to define.
The 21-year-old appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show alongside his Boy Erased costar Nicole Kidman, where he introduced a different perspective on sexual fluidity while discussing his portrayal of Garrard Conley.
“I was fortunate enough to be raised … I went to a progressive, liberal arts school for my whole life and in sixth grade, I had a health teacher who presented the idea of sexuality existing on a spectrum. It’s not really that you exist 100 percent one thing and 100 percent the other. From that moment on, I always identified myself as existing within that spectrum,” he said on the episode, which aired Tuesday, October 30. “I see it as something that’s more fluid, it’s just not as black and white.”
The Oscar nominee for 2017’s Manchester By the Sea had previously touched on his sexual identity during an interview with Vulture in September: “In the early stages of my life, some of the people I was most infatuated with were my closest male friends. That was the case through high school, and I think I was always aware that while for the most part I was attracted to women, I existed on a spectrum.”
“I felt ashamed that I wasn’t 100 percent, because it was clear that one side of sexuality presents issues, and the other doesn’t as much,” the Lady Bird star continued. “I recognize myself as existing on that spectrum: not totally straight, but also not gay and not necessarily bisexual.”
During his appearance on the show, DeGeneres, 60, commended Hedges for his role in the movie — based on Conley’s 2016 book, Boy Erased: The Memoir, about undergoing gay conversation therapy — which she called “important on so many levels.” But it wasn’t all seriousness. The daytime host joked that she can sympathize with the actor’s “spectrum” outlook, saying she too gets “confused” — when she’s around Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake.
