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Wayne Brady‘s finally living his truth.
The exceptionally talented sketch comedian and actor came out as pansexual.
Brady revealed his new identity in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, explaining that the orientation under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella describes people who are attracted to others regardless of their gender or sex. Brady had to do his own research on the term but feels it’s the right label that describes him at this moment.
“Pan means being able to be…attracted across the board. And, I think, at least for me for right now, that is the proper place,” Brady explained. “Not only can I be attracted to any of these people or types physically, but I could be attracted to the person that is there.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Brady admits that while he has been attracted to men in his life, he has never been able to explore his sexuality fully so he’s never dated one. Most of the hesitation, he says, comes from fear.
“Let’s be really honest: I’ve also been attracted to certain men in my life, but I’ve always pushed that aside because of how I was raised, and because I live in today’s world, and it’s scary as sh-t, he admits. “What’s the fastest way to hurt another man? I’m gonna call you out of your name. I’m gonna call you gay. I’m gonna emasculate you. I’m gonna use the F-word. I learned that very early from the people around me, they’re like, ‘Oh, so those are bad things? Yeah. You, you don’t wanna be that.'”
Brady says he had a tough time coming out, despite always having close friends and family in the LGBTQ community. But he felt shameful that he wasn’t showing his true self to the public and grew tired of the lie.
“I’ve told myself in the past, also, nobody needs to know my personal business. The world can absolutely go without knowing that Wayne identifies as pan. But that gave me license to still live in the shadows and to be secretive. What does that feel like to actually not be shameful, to not feel like, ‘Oh, I can’t be part of this conversation because I’m lying?’ I had to break that behavior,” Brady said.
Twitter’s saluting Brady for coming out. See the best reactions below.
