Grammy Award-nominated artist Janelle Monáe came out as non-binary during the most recent episode of Red Table Talk.
The artist and actress, who will continue to use she/her pronouns according to Metro, was very succinct about the holistic feelings that led to her realization.
“I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely. I feel all of my energy,” said Monáe. “I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ And if I am from God, I am everything.”
“I just see everything I am. Beyond the binary.”
Monáe first came out as queer in a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, considering herself a “free-a*s m**********r” in the same breath as acknowledging herself as a queer Black person in America. She has identified with both bisexuality and later pansexuality, saying “When I see people, I see your energy first, I don’t see how you identify. I feel like that opens you up to fall in love with any beautiful spirit, you know?”
She also remarked on the importance of connecting with your truth before sharing it with the world. “If you don’t work out the things that you need to work out first, before you share it with the world, then you’ll be working it out with the world,” she noted.
“So I thought I needed to have all my answers correct, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing and also I hadn’t had the necessary conversations with my family. I wasn’t ready to have my family question my personal life.”
Monáe will feature in the ensemble cast of the highly anticipated mystery thriller Knives Out 2, which will release on Netflix later this year.
