Amandla Stenberg Is Bisexual: 17-Year-Old Actress Comes Out Exquisitely On Teen Vogue Snapchat

On Teen Vogue‘s snapchat last night, Amandla Stenberg — who you likely know for playing “Rue” in The Hunger Games and also for calling out Kylie Jenner when Kylie appropriated cornrows with the hashtag “#whitegirlsdoitbetter” — came out as bisexual and also as a perfect human:

“I wanna thank Teen Vogue for giving me this opportunity, I cannot stress enough how important representation is, so the concept that I can provide for other black girls is mind-blowing. It’s a really really hard thing to be silenced, and it’s deeply bruising to fight against your identity and just mold yourself into shapes that you just shouldn’t be in. As someone who identifies as a black bisexual woman, I’ve been through it, and it hurts and it’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable. But then I realized: because of Solange and Ava Duvernay and Willow and all the black girls watching this right now, there’s absolutely nothing but change. We cannot be suppressed. We are meant to express our joy and our love and our tears, to be big and bold and definitely not easy to swallow. I definitely believe in the concept of rebellion through selfhood, and rebellion through embracing your true identity, no matter what you’re being told. Here I am, being myself; and it’s hard and vulnerable, and it’s definitely a process, but I’m learning and growing. Thank you for supporting me and doing this, and thank you to Teen Vogue. This is just the beginning, though; we have a lot of work to do for all women of color. We need more representation in film and television. We need our voices to be louder in the media. And not just women of color — bisexual women, gay women, transgender women, mentally ill women. I’m sick of all the misogyny and homophobia and transphobia that I see around me, and I know you are too. Thank you for listening and goodnight.”

Please note that the post is tagged “I’m very bisexual.”

Stenberg appears on the cover of this month’s issue of Teen Vogue, for which she is interviewed by Solange. You’ll probably want to read that now. You’ll probably buy Teen Vogue this month! I don’t know, I just have a feeling you’re gonna want a copy of this moment in our lives. I have a feeling you’re gonna start following her on instagram if you weren’t already! I have so many feelings about your feelings!

HELLO

Stenberg got started in show business as a four-year-old, modeling for Disney and appearing in TV commercials. Her first film role, in Colombiana, saw her playing the younger version of Zoe Saldana’s character. Next came Hunger Games, voicing Bia in Rio 2, and spots in Sleepy Hollow and Mr.Robinson. She’s also an accomplished musician, recording with singer/songwriter Zander Hawley as “Honeywater.”

Rue

Stenberg is also involved with an anti-hunger non-profit No Kid Hungry. Also, she co-authored a comic book published in 2015 called “Niobe: She is Life.” Also, she posted her “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows” school project video on her tumblr and it went viral and everybody was talking about it and it was incredible.

AND SHE IS BISEXUAL.

AND ONLY SEVENTEEN.

Bless us, everyone, it appears the odds are ever in our collective favor.

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3272 articles for us.

33 Comments

  1. This is so great for the little ones. (I’m 23 I can call teenagers little ones)Such a brave lil bb.I want good things for her.

  2. That Amandla Stenberg, who’s first big moment on the public stage came when there was a racist backlash against her casting as Rue in Hunger Games, has grown up to be the awesomely vocal queer black feminist, is one of my all time favorite pop culture tales.

    Seriously, this girl is so awesome.

  3. Amandla is amazing and rad and I have high hopes when a 17 year old is this smart, self-aware, and outspoken. Go Amandla!!! <3

  4. i just realized that i receive teen vogue because the previous tenants of my apartment didn’t switch their subscription address! i’m so excited i’m gonna get this issue :D

    Amandla is so fucking cool and I’m so happy she’s such a young trailblazer

  5. Brava for her! That statement is so beautifully phrased, too–really an inspiration to all of us.

  6. Amandla Stenberg is bisexual and Emma Watson is forming a feminist book club, 2016 is off to a FANTASTIC start.

    But seriously, as a black bi girl myself, this makes me beyond happy. I wish I’d had the courage to come out at 17.

  7. I’m so proud of her, I have a feeling this will help a lot of young black bisexual women accept themselves and be proud of who they are. She’s such a rockstar tbh

  8. I was just about to get off the internet last night and go to bed when I saw Amandla post this to Tumblr and I completely lost my shit. This was right after watching Channing Tatum drop that huge Beyonce bomb on his wife so I was already having a moment. This is so great for young girls to grow up with queer role models around their age. I never had that growing up. Especially not black ones. Welcome to the team, Amandla.

    Also, I haven’t looked at a Teen Vogue in a long ass time but this is one I might pcik up even if I’m way out of the demographic now. Rowan Blanchard has got some good quotes about feminism and intersectionality in that issue as well. She is close with Amandla and another great role model for young girls, queer or not.

  9. SCREAM THIS MADE MY WEEK. Also I can’t believe she’s 17 already, I still think of her as a little girl.

    Now I really want a Hunger Games AU where Rue didn’t [spoiler] and went on to save the world.

  10. This is just incredible. She is a huge inspiration to me as a young queer girl, and is doing such amazing things. She is speaking out, she is making her voice heard, and that is the most important thing. She is using her voice to uplift, to enlighten, to help, and it is so refreshing to see her speak with such grace and deep thought.

    I am hopeful for the future, and I am even more so because of her. She’s a true inspiration for young women everywhere, and to everyone else, too.

  11. Now this is how I want 2016 start — amazing black bisexual teenage girls. This makes makes me so happy for her and for humanity!

  12. I’m hopeful for the future, and ashamed of my contemporaries who do so much whining about “millenial whining.” At 45 my mind is blown repeatedly to see incredibly courageous youth coming out as early as middle school–something unimaginable when I was in my time there. This courage and mutual support and continuing to speak out amidst some of the most punishing economic conditions in the developed world gives me strength to keep fighting myself. This all of course is to say nothing of those who still suffer terribly in less favourable places, where simply surviving is an act of defiance.

    Thanks, Ms. Stenberg, and everyone else who is breaking apart ugly prisons that confine humanity.

  13. Seeing this level of badass, confident brilliance from a 17 years old makes my bisexual heart soar.

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