There are a lot of factors that may keep someone from coming out. For some, it's social stigma. For others, it's fear, or pressure from family members. For Raven Symone, though, it was being a child star.
In a new video for "It Gets Better," Raven talked about how her start on The Cosby Show and her later Disney success (she starred in That's So Raven as well as The Cheetah Girls) kept her from coming out as a lesbian. In the video, she says she assumed she’d never be able to come out because it would affect her brand, a secret she says ate at her soul.
“I never thought I would come out because my personal life didn’t matter,” she said in the video. “It was only supposed to be sold as, you know, a Raven Symone record.”
Raven said she realized she was gay at around age 12, but she didn’t come out until college. When she was on TV, Raven said she felt like coming out would only cause an uproar from the public that she didn’t want to deal with.
“I knew I couldn’t say it out loud because, 'Oh my god, little Olivia is gay, this is crazy,’” Raven, who played Olivia on The Cosby Show, said in the video. Even though others on TV had come out, Raven said she felt like it was never a good situation.
“It was always negative,” she said. “So, if you don’t see other people going through it in a positive way, why would you say anything? There was nothing that would have made me want to deal with my own issue at that time.”
Finally coming out, she said, was a huge weight off her shoulders. Doing so actually made her happier and more free.
“I felt lighter. I felt like I could go out and not have to put on 17 different hats to be myself,” she said. “I realize that just living my truth of what I am, there’s one less person to fight me in my own head.”
Check out Raven's full video below:
