feature image via Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins (Christina Ricci, Queen Latifah); lev radin (Sara Ramirez)
For many of the team, a celebrity crush gave them the first inklings of gayness. When your friends are crushing on Justin Timberlake and you’re holding a candle for Mel B, after all, it’s definitely a sign! I really wonder, if we surveyed a larger portion of the queer population, if we’d come away with some consistent patterns in early celebrity crushes. Is there something about these people that read as queer, that draws them toward certain actors, musicians, people in the public sphere?
Then, of course, it can just be fun to have a celebrity crush. It’s a crush that can have very few consequences when it comes to your actual life. What are the chances I’m going to run into anyone from Hollywood I have a crush on? (Next to none, is the answer). As Valerie said, “Celebrity crushes are fun because they are zero stakes!” And I think we deserve a little low-stakes fun. So, who’s your celebrity crush?
I am nothing if not consistent, so my celebrity crush for decades has been Queen Latifah. I loved watching her in the Black romcoms of the 2000s and obviously loved her performance in Chicago.
She is just out-of-this-world beautiful and seems to be very real and kind. Never a hair out of place and she gives great interviews. I recently watched her Hot Ones and left feeling enchanted. I was a little too young to have followed her music career as it happened but found her songs later in life and she’s just, ugh, so talented!
I could talk about her forever but let me think about my other crushes. I’m ashamed to say it but my current crush is on E.R. Fightmaster and I can’t say more. My shame comes from the fact that I said I don’t get crushes on white folks yet here I am thirsting.
Smh. Pitiful stuff. But they are so hot how could I not! My other enduring crush is a famous poet but I can’t say anything about her because she is taken and every time I tweet about her she finds it lol.
My celebrity crushes go all the way back to my early childhood. My first love was Morticia Addams of The Addams Family, played by Anjelica Huston. Then there was Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, played by Cassandra Peterson. Then I found Mama Morton from the 2002 movie version of Chicago, played by everyone’s crush — Queen Latifah. I still swoon for all three of these women and don’t give two flying fucks about our age gap.
In high school, I found new celebrity obsessions. I watched every single movie and TV show that Eliza Dushku had ever been in (including the under-appreciated paranormal series Tru Calling, which I rented repeatedly from Blockbuster Video like a good queer millennial). I also crushed hard on Dr. Callie Torres of Grey’s Anatomy long before the character (and actor Sara Ramirez) came out. In college, I put up a giant poster of Angelina Jolie in my dorm room, but that was less about my attraction to Angelina Jolie and more about me aggressively signaling my queerness to anyone who would notice.
The only somewhat recent addition to my collection of celebrity crushes is Kate Siegel. I think she’s beautiful in any context, but I specifically adore her as Theo Crane in The Haunting of Hill House (that’s actually my comfort show — no, I don’t know why I’m like this). I’m pretty sure all of my celebrity crushes — or at least the characters they’ve played on TV and in movies — have a similar energy, which doesn’t surprise me at all.
I’m going to stick with my lesbrarian brand here and write about my enduring queer celebrity author crushes! There are four queer Canadian writers who were among the first queer authors I ever saw read / perform their work in person when I was a baby queer in the early-mid 2000s: Shani Mootoo, Ivan Coyote, Dionne Brand, and Ann-Marie MacDonald. These are all authors who write in very different styles, formats, and genres but what they have in common is their fierce intelligence and sexy voices! I love a queer person talking about smart stuff in a hot voice!! I’m not quite sure how to describe the quality of these people’s voices, which are also quite different from each other, but I just know a sexy voice when I hear it. You’ll have to google and have a listen to see if you agree.
I especially recommend if you are ever able to see Ivan Coyote perform their stories in person – live storytelling is their true love and their stories are meant to be told aloud. Have a listen to the audiobook of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s most recent novel, Adult Onset, too, which she performs (she’s an experienced actress as well as an author). Dionne Brand’s “thirsty” is an appropriate poem to look up for a taste of her voice and writing. Years ago I got to hear Shani Mootoo read a queer sex scene from one of her novels aloud at a workshop but that was a once in a lifetime experience the internet could never replicate, sorry!!
My celebrity crush today is my celebrity crush of always and it’s Viola Davis. It’s been Viola Davis since she played Lynda P. Frazier on The United States of Tara, and it was cemented as Viola Davis when she played Annalise Keating — the all-time best ever queer character on TV — on How to Get Away With Murder. Everything since then is icing. I think I’ve probably read every profile that’s ever been done on her, read every interview, watched every late night appearance and every awards acceptance speech (at least ten times).
My catnip is powerful, beautiful women who are a little bit older than me, and I have been falling in love with thespians since I heard Jill Roberts sing Sleepy Man in The Robber Bridegroom in the sixth grade. I went back and saw that play almost every night our middle school put it on. Jill Roberts woke up something inside of me! My crush on Viola Davis feels like that times a billion.
Right now is prime Viola Davis crushing hours, too, because she’s starring in The Woman King (dir. by Gina Prince-Bythewood, of course) so photos and trailers keep popping up where she’s wielding a sword and rushing into battle and surrounded by other women and my god I need to be borne away to my fainting couch just thinking about it. Viola Davis is shredded, y’all. Have you ever looked at her biceps? Hugh Jackman said he had a hard time keeping up with her when they were training together! Also if you have not seen her in Ma Rainey, you have missed the most breaktakingly sensual queer scene ever filmed! The secret thing I love about Viola Davis is that she is such a dork on Instagram. She’s like the most talented, revered, successful, stunning actress and woman on earth and she’s just over there on Instagram making constantly corny mom jokes. I love that she wouldn’t even interact with Jared Leto on the set of Suicide Squad because he wouldn’t break character as the Joker. I love her stories about keeping candy in her nightstand because she wakes up with a sweet tooth. I love how much she loves her family. I love how she’s one of the few people on earth who commands full attention simply by opening her mouth to speak. What an absolute legend.
I have always and will continue to always have many, many crushes. Let me preference this list by stating that I don’t really give myself a label other than queer, and honestly I’m still trying to figure this out! I’m all over the map, so let’s get into it.
The very first celebrity crush I had (that I can remember) was Harry Potter. Not Daniel Radcliffe, only Harry Potter. Shortly after–not Hermionie–but Emma Watson. My first major queer awakening, though, was Kyle McCoy from Cycle 23 of America’s Next Top Model. Then there was Shane (obviously), Ruby Rose, Kristen Stewart, and King Princess in my early twenties (I know, I know, rolling my eyes at myself HARD). I remember being really into YouTuber Elle Mills for a while and that was fun. This was around the time I was discovering niche queer culture and started to develop crushes on local celebrities who are now within 1-2 degrees of my friend circle, so I’ll leave it at that.
I took a bit of a celebrity crush hiatus for the past few years in lieu of people I actually knew, but now I’m unfortunately back in the super single celebrity crush game with none other than the character of Loki. Again, not Tom Hiddleston, just Loki. Upon recent reflection it’s become clear to me that I indeed only crush on people who aren’t available to me (or anyone?) and probably have avoidant attachment styles, so all I’m learning from this is that I need to keep going to therapy. My only redeeming crushes now are River Butcher and Tessa Thompson. Thank god.
My very first celebrity crush was Devon Sawa. I saw him in Little Giants and went “That boy is very pretty and I would like to pretend my pillow is him and kiss it”. Years later I saw him in Final Destination and my FAVORITE SLEPT ON HORROR FILM, Idle Hands. Then, in 2020, I was minding my own business when my IG mentions blew up and it’s because he took a screenshot of one of my tweets that mentioned him and put it on his IG with a caption that said he loved me. I think I passed out, I’m not super sure. Recently though, Elliot Page, Winston Duke, Queen Latifah, and any Black queer babe who loves Black babes out loud.
Oooh, this is my favorite thing to talk about. My first celebrity crush was Jordan Knight from New Kids on the Block. I was the most smitten preschooler you could have found. In elementary school, it was Devon Sawa (tbh, he could still get it. Did you see him on Hacks??) Then came my most enduring celeb crush, Justin Timberlake (it wasn’t as controversial an opinion in 1998 as it is now, but hate me if you must, I’m loyal.) Anyone who knows me and follows me on social media knows that my love for Harry Styles knows no bounds. He is the chaos monster of my heart.
My first female celeb crush? Kate Moennig. She was on a WB show for one summer in 2000 called Young Americans where she played a girl who pretended to be a boy and HOLY BLEEP. My teenage body was rocked in a way I had never known before. The chemistry between her and Ian Somerhalder was the definition of bisexual nightmare for me.
I’ve had other female celeb crushes: Christina Aguilera, Ruby Rose, Taylor Swift. But Kate is always there. She really set the tone for the kind of women I’m attracted to. I’m literally listening to her podcast as I write this. I fucking love Kate Moennig. If I ever get to meet her, I will be unable to speak. I want to bone her and also be her best friend.
This prompt brought up a really specific celebrity crush moment for me. I’m bi/pan/queer (I use any of those depending on the audience, situation, how I’m feeling that day, or which colors I want to wear to pride that year.) And for me that took a while to figure out in part because it can be confusing to figure out do I like this woman or do I want to be like this woman? Is it actually a crush or do I just think she is cool? I think that was especially true because I grew up very religious and I wanted to fit that mold. It was easy to pretend to be straight by just ignoring the part of me that liked women (and other gender identities but since I’m talking about the 90s/ 00s here other genders were not on my radar). When other girls talked about their crushes at school or celebrities it would be really easy to fit in because I did have crushes on men. I had an entire list of male celebrity crushes I maintained in my head in case someone asked: Justin Timberlake, Usher, Josh Hartnett, the entire band O-Town. In retrospect it should have been a sign that I was definitely not straight. It’s totally not suspicious to keep a running list of attractive men.
When A Walk to Remember came out, Shane West got added to this running list. I followed a lot of his movies and TV shows for several years. He was on a CW show called Nikita starring Maggie Q as a badass who is trying to take down the intelligence/black ops agency she used to work for that has gone rogue and started serving as mercenaries . The main stars were Maggie Q and Shane West (though I should also say it starred Devon Sawa too since he came up on this answer a lot). Eventually I realized I was equally attracted to both Maggie Q and Shane West and wow was that an epiphany. So basically I watched Nikita because of a celebrity crush I had as a teenage straight girl and by the time the show ended I fully knew I was not a straight girl.
My first genuine celeb crushes came in my middle school years. I was 12 when I first watched Now and Then and wow, wow, wow, the very intense and somewhat confusing feelings I had for both Christina Ricci and Devon Sawa, which I both consider to be early queer crushes. (I was a big gay in the late 90’s and early aughts and that swoopy-run-one-hand-through-it-emo-dyke-hair was a real thing.) I think it was around that same time that Christina and Devon starred in that Casper movie and that movie was not nearly as good as Now and Then, but I sure did watch it more than once for that awkward kiss scene. Christina Ricci is the celeb crush that made me tell my friends at a 7th grade sleepover that I thought I was a lesbian, which I retracted soon after when I realized I was still attracted to a boy in my class – I hadn’t considered bisexuality as a viable option. What’s important is that Christina Ricci is the first celeb crush where I recognized, with some level of self-awareness, that I was experiencing crush feelings for a girl.
And then she went on to do movie like The Opposite of Sex and Pecker and 200 Cigarettes and whooooo, I was into her so bad all through high school. In eighth grade, I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie on VH1, which kickstarted a decades-long crush on Tim Curry as the problematic Dr. Frank-n-Furter, which I later came to understand as a real world attraction to various genders and any person who’s very intentional about how they express and live their gender. These days, my crushes are much less intense, but I still have some in real life and on many celebs, in no particular order: Sara Ramirez, Indya Moore, Jamie Clayton, Kristen Kish, Lena Hall, Mj Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Trace Lysette, I could go on…
I am realizing that I have a lot of celebrity crushes. And it’s not that I’m disloyal to my celeb crushes; I don’t move on from one and onto the next one. I am just simply fascinated by the people who can pick just one or two!!! I’ve always been a little too obsessed with celebrities, starting at a very young age when I wrote in my journal that I was changing my name to Olivia Newton-John and that my parents had already okayed such a change (this goes without saying, but they most certainly did not). She’s probably the earliest celeb crush I can remember, but so many came after, and for a long time I did that classic queer thing of insisting I wanted to be these women. Another time, I took to my journal to write that I wanted to be Jennifer Lopez when I grew up. Despite being deeply closeted for the entirety of my youth, one area where I felt genuinely comfortable expressing my attraction to women was through my celebrity crushes. It added a layer of remove, and it was socially acceptable to obsess over famous women. I had photos of Jennifer Garner in my locker in high school, and I once ?screamed? at a boy on the bus because he said Angelina Jolie was unattractive (reader, we were BOTH gay, it turns out). All of the women from Mad Men appeared on my tumblr on a daily basis for most of college. Maybe I’ve always been intense about celebrity crushes because they were the first real crushes I allowed myself to have.
As a Tumblr gay and someone who falls in love at least eighteen times an hour, the knowledge that I have to round this down to like less than 100 crushes is daunting work but try I must.
As we’ve all watched me go through forty eight stages of grief with Batwoman my top three at the moment are of course: Javicia Leslie, Meagan Tandy and Rachel Skarsten. Meeting all of them has only increased this crush situation and I’ve accepted that this is who I am now. Like as I have brown eyes, I will just perpetually be in love with them for the rest of my life. Tatiana Maslany need only say the word and I’m there. Keke Palmer, Candice Patton, Anna Diop, Azie Tesfai, America Ferrera, Viola Davis, Tessa Thompson, Michaela Coel, Brie Larson, Rachel McAdams, Janelle Monae, Jessica Chastain, Lashawna Lynch, Lana Parrilla, Gina Torrez, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Gabrielle Union, Teyonah Parris, Taylour Paige, Angela Bassett, Angelica Ross, Michaela Jae Rodriguez, Niecy Nash, Meagan Good, Angelina Jolie, I need to stop before someone edits me down I JUST LOVE PRETTY PEOPLE WHAT A GIFT
Literary crushes include: Safia Elhillo, Fatimah Asghar, Camonghne Felix, Kalynn Bayron, Morgan Parker, God I know I’m forgetting so many people but like how does one even list them all. Sports crushes include: Tiffany Hayes, Kahleah Copper, actually let me stop before I name the whole WNBA. Musical crushes are abundant (Katrina Lenk, Audra McDonald, Ariana DeBose, etc.) but please understand me, it’s all about Karen Olivo. I saw them as Vanessa in In The Height on Broadway, I think my junior year of high school? and I have been stuck ever since. WAIT Brittany Johnson, the first black Glinda, I ADORE HER.
What I need to get across here is that I am very gay and life is wonderful because I am simply in love with a huge amount of people off some “I love everybody because I love you type” (thanks Mitski. Add Mitski to this list.) vibes and I highly recommend this lifestyle for anyone who needs random spots of jot throughout their day.
But also, as my sister reminds me every day, for some reason Jake Gyllenhaal. Every day, I wonder why this white man has a hold on me, but he does, and I’m simply resigned to it. (Did you know we have the same birthday? Not that I looked it up or anything.)
When it comes to crushes (and most things in my life), I am a hardcore Taurus – loyal AF, stubborn til’ I die, and a lover of the best things/people life has to offer. That being said, my celebrity crushes are folks who I have loved for ages regardless of any ridiculous choices they’ve made (like playing a CGI cat or choosing the WRONG person every single time). If I can cheat and use a fictional character, there’s no competition for my longest crush – Bette Porter 4EVER. I’ve been a Bette Porter stan since I was in high school and my-oh-my what a ride it’s been. Her actions and relationship with Tina have divided the queers for more than a decade. Through it all, I’ve remained a stan. I will say that last season’s finale did make me waver quite a bit and I’m still not over it. I’ve also been crushing hard on former USMNT goalie, Tim Howard for years. If you don’t follow Tim on Instagram, do yourself a favor and make it happen – expertly chiseled body, perfect smile, an iconic beard. tatted, and amazing fashion. When I told my wife about this question, I was trying to think of a more recent crush and she reminded me of the incredibly stunning and hilarious woman that I call my “celebrity wife,” the one and only Michelle Buteau. If you don’t know who Michelle is, you may be living under a rock (come out and get in the know). Michelle is so funny and does a ton of different stuff (all of which I love). She was in Always Be My Maybe and Marry Me. She also hosts this dope podcast called Adult-ing with Jordan Carlson. She hosts The Circle on Netflix. She wrote a memoir and has a comedy special. She is H-O-T, thick, and brilliant – my ideal kind of woman. Michelle, if you’re reading this – hit me uppppp (so we can double date with our spouses)!
As a kid, my celeb crushes were… revealing. Devon Sawa, Taylor Hansen, and Mary Kate Olsen. I will leave you to make your own conclusions about my type. As an adult, I’m not one to really crush on “celebs” — I’m famously not super tuned in to pop culture, so it’s hard to keep track of who is who when it comes to the rich and the famous. That said, I’m a big fan of “famous queer writers” by which I mean, writers who I consider extremely impressive who also happen to be queer. I’ll take this opportunity to shout out Shelli Nicole, Davey Davis, T Kira Madden, Alex Marzano-Lesnivich, Michelle Tea, Torrey Peters, Leah Johnson, Brandon Taylor, Joe Osmundson, and Sarah Thankam Mathews, as my “famous queer writer crushes” but I could literally go on for forever… if I saw any of these folks walking down the street I would be WAY more excited than if I saw a single “celeb” ever again, in person or on a big or small screen!
My first celebrity crush is one that A LOT of people around here share — Chistina Ricci. I was struck by her as Wednesday Addams when I was a kid and further enchanted by her in literally everything she has ever been in, including Yellowjackets! This is NOT technically a celebrity so much as on a character, but, in one of my favorite movies as a young child, <em>Return to Oz</em>, I felt ways about the character of Mombi (Jean Marsh) that definitely stuck in my young mind. She’s got a temper and also a beautiful high femme goth dress, she plays the nurse in the beginning of the film who ties Dorothy up, and at the end of the movie Mombi Winds. Up. In. A. Cage. I’m not going to elaborate. Then, we haven’t even gotten to my girl Nicole Kidman. I will literally watch Nicole Kidman in anything. I don’t know what it is, but I can stare right into her eyes (which always look kind of murderous) through the television and feel a thrill, like she is watching me and wants to kill me. She was especially enchanting in The Northman when she was raging and yelling and trying to stab someone. Finally, I did NOT escape watching Killing Eve without a hefty crush on Sandra Oh, also a stabby person. Am I attracted to women who play characters who threaten to / actually murder people in movies and on TV? Is that actually the type?
To zip back in time a little, some additional notable members of my first ever celebrity crush cohort are Mel B and Geri Halliwell of The Spice Girls who were just a whole sexual awakening for young me, wrapped in a band that it was expected and okay to be obsessed with! Because everyone loved the Spice Girls, I had some cover when I wanted to watch their music videos, listen to their CDs, watch Spice World and otherwise pay more than an average amount of attention to them. Also in non-stabby people, I’ve hung out on Elliot Page’s instagram a little too much, you know? Just like, scrollin’, seeing what’s up. ALSO ALSO, I had the pleasure of interviewing Theo Germaine recently, and, this is a safe space so, if I can just say, that they were the kindest and that did nothing to make them less attractive. Right now, I feel the need to note, I’m also regularly crushing on a bunch of authors and artists and people who could easily see this on Twitter who I don’t want to name!!! So, sorry, but I’m not going to tell you about that! Lastly, I currently think about Willem Dafoe more often than I would if I didn’t have a bit of a crush? He just keeps showing up in Robert Eggars movies and subsequently staying on my brain! You might be asking: “Did you develop a crush on Willem Dafoe while watching The Light House, Nico?” and truly, no comment.
My first celebrity crush was Amy Jo Johnson, though of course I didn’t recognize it as a crush at seven. I thought it was normal fan behavior to kiss your Kimberly/Pink Power Ranger trading card goodnight every night. She was also the first celebrity I watched a movie specifically for (I don’t think I would have watched Susie Q if she wasn’t in it) but she would not be the last. Around that same time, I had a crush on Christina Ricci in Casper AND Now & Then, plus I had feelings about Marion Hawthorne in Harriet the Spy I wouldn’t understand until later. (The answer: Charlotte Sullivan.)
I have regular-sized crushes on a lot of celebrities. Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Meagan Tandy, Tala Ashe, Maya Hawke, Hailee Steinfeld, Tessa Thompson, Brie Larson, Florence Pugh, Shay Mitchell, Jamie Clayton, Marisha Ray, Laura Bailey, Tawny Cypress, Kate Siegel, and way too many more to name. These are the celebrities whose instagram photos make my heart skip a beat, whose name is all you need to utter to get me to watch any media.
But I have BIG crushes too. I have a spreadsheet of everything Katie McGrath has ever been in and am working my way through her filmography. I have a playlist of just Naya Rivera’s songs from Glee I would listen to religiously. I dropped real money and to see a play I’ve never heard of because Tatiana Maslany was in it. I was so into Faith/Eliza Dushku as a pre-teen/teen that when I came out to my dad at 22, he said, “I watched Buffy with you. I saw how you were with Faith. I knew.” I’m a hipster about Ariana Debose because I’m obsessed with everything she’s in but also before she was having her MOMENT I saw her on Broadway in Bring it On: The Musical and knew she’d be a star. Every time I see her name attached to a new project I get unreasonably excited as if I know her personally. I do not!
Long story short, I have a lot of crushes, and I get a new one every day. Celebrity crushes are fun because they are zero stakes! Even when they break your heart (looking at all the anti-vaxxers I had to unfollow in 2021), it’s nothing a new celebrity crush won’t fix.
I feel like my childhood celebrity crushes are pretty typical for a person who just turned 34 this year. My very first celebrity crush was on Amy Jo Johnson from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Of course, I didn’t realize it was a crush then but I watched the show BECAUSE OF her. She kicked ass, and to be honest, I wanted her to kick mine a little bit. I was obsessed with Christina Ricci and watched everything she was in over and over again, especially Now and Then. I also watched Moesha religiously, both when it was weekly and when it went into syndication, because I could never stop thinking about Brandy. Over the years, I cycled through tons of celebrity crushes: Mel B. from the Spice Girls, Larisa Oleynik from The Secret World of Alex Mack, Aaliyah, Tatyana Ali from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Selena, Jennifer Lopez playing Selena in the Selena movie, Mariah Carey, and Brittany Murphy in Clueless, to name a few. My “Oh shit, I’m gay” moment really came when I watched Alien when I was too young to be watching Alien and got to that scene where Ellen Ripley thinks she defeated the xenomorph and strips down to just her white tank top and white underwear.
When I was a kid and a teenager, I wasn’t just attracted to these people just because they were hot (though, they were and many still are). I was also attracted to the people they portrayed on screen, and I think that’s what made the crushes so strong. Now, I don’t feel that kind of attraction to celebrities in the same way, mostly because my understanding of the kinds of people who work in Hollywood is much more mature than it was back when I was younger and because I just interact with stories and storytelling way differently than I did then. But, I will say, there are some artists and writers whose very existence in the world gives me pause because they’re just so damn good at what they do. That’s an obscenely long list that I won’t get into entirely here, but a few people on the list are Melissa Febos, Nicole Byer, Patti Harrison, Angel Olsen, all of the members of Big Joanie, Shannon Shaw from Shannon and the Clams, Fariha Róisín, and Samin Nosrat.
eeeeheeeeheeeee thank youuuuu for sharing this!!!! this is lovely. . .
but i love A Tony’s & Valerie’s enthusiasm for many celebrity crushes. mine are few and far between – i mean how am i supposed to have a crush on someone i’ve only seen in 2d & who doesn’t know i exist. i have crushes on my wife & friends instead! then Roberta Colindrez makes my stomach drop & my heart soar every. damn. time.
also Nico, lovin your naaaaaaaaaaaaaammme <3 <3 <3 cheers!
VALERIE THANK YOU FOR BRINGING AMY JO JOHNSON BACK INTO MY LIFE UPON FURTHER REFLECTION YES THE PINK POWER RANGER WAS ABSOLUTELY MY FIRST CRUSH, YES I DID GET IN TROUBLE FOR STEALING ONE OF MY LITTLE BROTHER’S POGS BECAUSE IT FEATURED HER AND I WAS LIKE “SURELY THIS POG MUST BE MINE, WEIRD THAT IT APPEARED IN MY LITTLE BROTHER’S POG PACK, I SIMPLY MUST RESCUE THE PINK POWER RANGER FROM HIS ROOM AND KEEP THIS POG CLOSE TO ME AT ALL TIMES” NOTHING TO SEE HERE, NOT AT ALL A BUDDING LIL LESBIAN, NOOOOOOO MA’AM
So back when I was trying to figure out if I was only into girls or maybe also into boys, I made a list of ever celebrity I’ve ever found attractive. One male list and one female. (This was 2009, so yes, just two lists.) One the male list, I could scarcely get into the 40s, but some long-lasting crushes I had included Chad Michael Murray, Shane West, Prince Harry, and Benji Madden from Good Charlotte. The female list, on the other hand? Wayyyyy over 100. Obviously too many to list, but the two earliest ones I remember were Julia Roberts (in Pretty Woman, specifically) Stockard Channing (in Grease, specifically). I basically had Grease memorized by the time I was five, and There Are Worse Things I Could Do was always always my favourite song even though I was in highschool before I understood half of it. Rizzo just DID things to me I did not understand!
It’s wild to me that Cate Blanchett, Lena Headey, Aubrey Plaza nor Rachel Weisz were mentioned! If I hadn’t already known I was gay when The Mummy came out, that sure would have done it. And I will always be devastated that Luce the Lesbian Florist from Primrose Hill is not a real person.
O. M. G. Celebrity crushes. What’s the character limit in comments?
I’ll break it down a bit. First celebrity girl crush that I can recall: Annie Lenox. Holy shit, that suit from Sweet Dreams.
Most enduring: Angelina Jolie
Baby gay years: Mary Stuart Masterson, Gina Gershon, Ani DiFranco, Melissa Etheridge, pretty much any bi or lesbian musical artist.
Throughout the years in some form or another: Halle Berry, Hayley Atwell, Lana Parrilla, Winona Ryder, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Murray, Katie McGrath, Allison Hannigan, Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, Mia Hamm, Jodie Foster.
My 10% from my baby gay years: George Strait.
Maybe it’s age but first crush? Sigourney Weaver in Holes NO question. The swagger? The boots? The rattlesnake nail polish? And then also Sigourney, of course, in everything else
i feel like i left so many off the list, but i LOVE getting to know everyone through their celebrity crushes. this confirms that i’m surrounded by my people
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Comments
eeeeheeeeheeeee thank youuuuu for sharing this!!!! this is lovely. . .
but i love A Tony’s & Valerie’s enthusiasm for many celebrity crushes. mine are few and far between – i mean how am i supposed to have a crush on someone i’ve only seen in 2d & who doesn’t know i exist. i have crushes on my wife & friends instead! then Roberta Colindrez makes my stomach drop & my heart soar every. damn. time.
also Nico, lovin your naaaaaaaaaaaaaammme <3 <3 <3 cheers!
<3 <3 <3 thank you!!!
Forever and always Gillian Anderson and Winona Ryder. Unoriginal? HUGELY, but clichés are clichés for a reason people!!!
HOW could I forget Gillian Anderson??
Omg yes to Samin Nosrat 😍
VALERIE THANK YOU FOR BRINGING AMY JO JOHNSON BACK INTO MY LIFE UPON FURTHER REFLECTION YES THE PINK POWER RANGER WAS ABSOLUTELY MY FIRST CRUSH, YES I DID GET IN TROUBLE FOR STEALING ONE OF MY LITTLE BROTHER’S POGS BECAUSE IT FEATURED HER AND I WAS LIKE “SURELY THIS POG MUST BE MINE, WEIRD THAT IT APPEARED IN MY LITTLE BROTHER’S POG PACK, I SIMPLY MUST RESCUE THE PINK POWER RANGER FROM HIS ROOM AND KEEP THIS POG CLOSE TO ME AT ALL TIMES” NOTHING TO SEE HERE, NOT AT ALL A BUDDING LIL LESBIAN, NOOOOOOO MA’AM
Heather, I’ll offer myself up as VP of the Lynda P. Frazier fan club.
(Also this list is quite lacking in Scully/Stella/Gillian Anderson references.)
Oof if I’d written mine after watching a League of Their Own I would have had to add Roberta Colindrez. 💦🔥
oh my gosh YES. Roberta Colindrez all the way.
So back when I was trying to figure out if I was only into girls or maybe also into boys, I made a list of ever celebrity I’ve ever found attractive. One male list and one female. (This was 2009, so yes, just two lists.) One the male list, I could scarcely get into the 40s, but some long-lasting crushes I had included Chad Michael Murray, Shane West, Prince Harry, and Benji Madden from Good Charlotte. The female list, on the other hand? Wayyyyy over 100. Obviously too many to list, but the two earliest ones I remember were Julia Roberts (in Pretty Woman, specifically) Stockard Channing (in Grease, specifically). I basically had Grease memorized by the time I was five, and There Are Worse Things I Could Do was always always my favourite song even though I was in highschool before I understood half of it. Rizzo just DID things to me I did not understand!
So much Devon Sawa! I had to google to remember who he was and came across this https://www.plottwistmag.com/articles/new-study-confirms-devon-sawa-responsible-for-all-sexual-awakenings-in-1995
“I once ?screamed? at a boy on the bus because he said Angelina Jolie was unattractive” Kayla you were right to do this
It’s wild to me that Cate Blanchett, Lena Headey, Aubrey Plaza nor Rachel Weisz were mentioned! If I hadn’t already known I was gay when The Mummy came out, that sure would have done it. And I will always be devastated that Luce the Lesbian Florist from Primrose Hill is not a real person.
Em Win I feel so seen with the Harry Potter and Loki (not the actors!) crushes!
O. M. G. Celebrity crushes. What’s the character limit in comments?
I’ll break it down a bit. First celebrity girl crush that I can recall: Annie Lenox. Holy shit, that suit from Sweet Dreams.
Most enduring: Angelina Jolie
Baby gay years: Mary Stuart Masterson, Gina Gershon, Ani DiFranco, Melissa Etheridge, pretty much any bi or lesbian musical artist.
Throughout the years in some form or another: Halle Berry, Hayley Atwell, Lana Parrilla, Winona Ryder, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Murray, Katie McGrath, Allison Hannigan, Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, Mia Hamm, Jodie Foster.
My 10% from my baby gay years: George Strait.
How fun to reminisce about this.
Maybe it’s age but first crush? Sigourney Weaver in Holes NO question. The swagger? The boots? The rattlesnake nail polish? And then also Sigourney, of course, in everything else
WAIT HOW DID I FORGET MELANIE LYNSKEY?!
i feel like i left so many off the list, but i LOVE getting to know everyone through their celebrity crushes. this confirms that i’m surrounded by my people
I keep finding out more that I left off the list! This was actually a very difficult challenge.
My #1 gay awakening celebrity crush was Kate Winslet in Titanic. I joke that seeing her boobs in that movie made me gay but I am actually not joking.