Oops! 6 LGBTQ+ celebs who accidentally came out
Thanks to evolving ideas around sexuality, many in the community are preferring not to label themselves, and have therefore been shocked when they've found their identities garnering headlines.
Mark
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons grew up playing Lily, the daughter of gay couple Mitch and Cam on Modern Family, so she didn’t expect much when she hopped on a recent TikTok sound going viral in the LGBTQ+ community.
The sound, of course, was from the hit ABC sitcom, where her then-child-aged character proclaims: “I’m gay! I’m gay!”
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“People keep joking so much [about] me being gay when I literally am (I’m bi),” she wrote alongside the video, posted back in June.
Then came the headlines — none of which she expected.
“I didn’t even mean to come out, I just thought the video was really fun,” the 18-year-old recently told Them, adding that “everybody in [her] personal life already [knew].”
“I’m very much an open book about who I am,” she added. “So it was just one of those things that I forgot to mention to the public. It was not intentional at all.”
That said, Anderson-Emmons is far from the first LGBTQ+ celeb to open up publicly about their sexuality and not realize they were “coming out.”
Thanks to evolving ideas around sexuality, many in the community are preferring not to label themselves, and have therefore been shocked when they’ve found their identities garnering headlines.
Here are 6 other celebrities who were surprised by their own coming out moments.
1. Khalid
It wasn’t a total accident when Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Khalid came out as queer, but it wasn’t on purpose either. In 2024, the 27-year-old tweeted, “
!!! there yall go. next topic please lol” after being outed by an unnamed person on X.
“Let’s get this straight (lmao) I am not ashamed of my sexuality,” he wrote in a follow-up post. “In reality it ain’t nobodies business! But I am okay with me love yall.” Fittingly, the R&B artist was moved to tears when he performed at his first-ever Pride event in June 2025.
2. Joshua Bassett
Disney star Joshua Bassett didn’t necessarily mean to discuss his sexuality in 2021, when he candidly called Harry Styles “hot” and added “I guess this is my coming-out video” in a viral interview. Later, the 24-year-old released a statement that said he was “happy to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community, because they embrace all.”
That said, the singer admitted to Attitude that he encountered “a lot of homophobia” after the announcement. “Seeing that put things into perspective, of how far along we aren’t yet; I thought we were a lot further on than we are,” he said.
3. Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish didn’t mean to come out as bisexual in 2023 when she revealed to Variety that she was “physically attracted” to women. Later, the “Lunch” singer admitted she thought it was “obvious” and “didn’t realize people didn’t know,” and criticized the outlet for “outing” her “instead of talking about anything else that matters.”
Now, the 23-year-old prefers a more private approach. “I wish no one knew anything about my sexuality or anything about my dating life,” she told Vogue in 2024, adding that she’ll “never [talk] about who I’m dating ever again.”
4. Louisa Jacobson
The Gilded Age‘s Louisa Jacobson let it slip that she was dating a woman on her mother Meryl Streep’s birthday in June 2024. “Blessed to be entering the Joyful New Era bb,” she wrote in an Instagram post of various pics, including one with her then-partner, Anna Blundell.
Naturally, the internet rejoiced, though Jacobson has yet to further address her sexuality or the moment in great detail, telling Elle in 2025, “I’m so lucky to have had so much support. I feel like my life is expanding … It’s a beautiful thing.”
5. Sarah Paulson
Sarah Paulson is one of the most visible and vocal LGBTQ+ actors in Hollywood, but that wasn’t always the case. In 2003, the American Horror Story star “very [accidentally]” outed herself when she kissed then-girlfriend Cherry Jones, who had just won her second Tony Award.
“I was very young, and I was in love,” Paulson, who identifies as fluid, told PrideSource in 2015. “It was not really a conscious thought. I didn’t think of what the implications were going to be. I just did what was true and honest to me in that moment.” Now, the 50-year-old screen queen and longtime partner, Holland Taylor, are couple goals.
6. Gracie McGraw
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s daughter Gracie celebrated Pride Month this year with an Instagram Story post reading, “HAPPY FREAKING PRIDE. I love being queer.”
Of course, the 28-year-old was surprised when media outlets picked up the news and claimed it was her officially coming out. She clarified in another post: “Let me be VERY clear here. I’ve been an out and proud queer, bisexual woman, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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