Queen latifah gay
The often-private Queen Latifah gets candid about a slew of serious subjects in Essence Magazine's July issue including alleged sexual abuse she suffered as a child, rumors that she's gay and her desire to become a mother.
"My personal life is personal and it's really not for everyone else," she told the mag. "With what I do for a living, I contain to share a lot of myself with a lot of people, but I'm not going to share everything."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Queen Latifah: Music and Movie's Royal Highness
Queen Latifah, born Dana Elaine Owens, addressed the persistent speculation about her sexual orientation.
"They want to make up stories and make me gay all the time and it's like, 'Keep running with it,'" she said. "I've definitely been annoyed by it, but I learned a drawn-out time ago that it was pointless to say anything. Everybody else can do the reading; I'll do the living."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Latest Luminary Sightings
One area of her life that she's willing to open about is her history with sexual abuse.
"He violated me," she said of her alleged abuser. "I never told anybody; I ju
Queen Latifah Officiated a Queer (and Straight) Wedding at the Grammys; She Didn’t Come Out
One of the most surprising aspects of the bizarre group wedding of 33 couples that took place during the performance of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love” just outside prime time during Sunday’s Grammy Awards telecast was the identity of its officiator: Queen Latifah. Despite years of speculation (and on my part at least, some serious wishful thinking) that she’s a lesbian, Latifah has consistently refused to produce any kind of widespread statement about her sexuality. Given that attitude, wasn’t it strange for her to take such a public pro-gay stance?
Not really. Although Latifah won’t chat about her own relationships, she hasn’t avoided the topic of homosexuality or slammed the community. As she told Alex Witchel in a New York Times Magazine profile: “I don’t have a difficulty discussing the topic of somebody being gay, but I do have a problem discussing my personal life. … I don’t care if people ponder I’m gay or not. Assume whatever you yearn. You do it anyway.”
When her appearance at a Lo
QueenLatifahis one of those rare stars who has been equally victorious in both music and production, but rest assured, she’s faced her share of challenges along the way.
In a candid chat with “Black-ish” star Tracie Ellis Ross for InStyle, Queen Latifah said one of her most difficult career decisions was signing on to play Cleo Simms in ’s “Set It Off.” In case you’ve forgotten, Cleo is one of the film’s four amateur bank robbers, and she happens to be a lesbian.
“When I got the role of amateur bank robber Cleo Sims in ‘Set It Off,’ I sat down with my younger siblings and told them, ‘Listen, I’m playing a gay character. Your classmates might tease you or declare negative things about it,’” she said. “’But I’m doing it because I believe I can bring positive attention to the gay African-American community, and I believe that I can complete a great job as an actor.’ They understood, and when those things inevitably happened in school, they were OK with it.”
Queen Latifah’s instincts turned out to be right. “Set It Off,” which also starred Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly E
Living out loud: Queen Latifah and Black queer television production
by Lauren Herold
At the GLAAD Media Awards, Dee Rees’ biopic Bessie (HBO, ) won the award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series. Queen Latifah, who plays bisexual[1] [open endnotes in new window] Empress of Blues Bessie Smith in the titular role, received the award on stage on behalf of the film. Latifah begins her acceptance speech by thanking GLAAD, her production team, Rees, the cast, and HBO for their back of the project. She continues:
“When I’m standing here and I receive something like this, I really think about my cousins, and my aunts, and my family members who are, uh, what’s the words again, the letters again? I’m just playing. My cousins who are gay, who are lesbians, who are questioning, who raised me, who taught me to be who I am, the tough woman you see standing in front of you today. I want to dedicate this to my aunt Lita, who was my inspiration for a character named Cleo I played in Set it Off. She was also my inspiration for my life. She taught me