12 Celebs Who Came Out At A Young Age, And 13 Who Came Out Way Later In Life

Actress Rebel Wilson came out in 2022, at the age of 42, through an absolutely adorable photo she posted to Instagram of her with her girlfriend, Ramona Agruma. And it only gets better, because the couple got engaged one year later, in 2023!

You might know Josie from Glee like I do, but she was also in Moxie, Jessie, and Spider Man: Homecoming. She came out as trans to the public in 2018 through an article published in Time Magazine called “My Name Is Josie Totah — And I’m Ready to Be Free,” but in the article, she explains having come out to her family and starting her transition three years before, at age 14. 

Victor, who I know from Legally Blonde but has also been in blockbusters like Titanic and Annie, officially came out at the age of 63, confirming speculation that he has a male partner. He explained how he doesn’t discuss it much, but “everyone knows.” He’s also now married to Rainer Andreesen, who he's been with since 2000. 

Noah first came out publicly in January 2023, when he was 18. In true Gen Z fashion, he came out through a TikTok video, essentially joking about how his friends and family responded with “we know” when he came out to them (LOL). This came after lots of speculation that his character on Stranger Things, Will Byers, is gay — which he confirmed in 2022. 

Queen Latifah didn’t officially come out until 2021, although she did reference her sexuality at the age of 42 by referring to the Long Beach Pride crowd as her “peeps” in 2012. But she didn’t directly reference her romantic life until 2021, at the age of 51, when she thanked her partner onstage as well as their son Rebel at the BET Awards.

Amandla initially came out at 17 as bisexual, but came out again two years later, clarifying that she identifies as gay, not bisexual — and she also came out as nonbinary in 2017. She’s since opened up about her experiences with internalized homophobia, and says she wants to see more on-screen representation for Black LGBTQ+ actresses like herself. 

If you’re looking for confirmation that it’s never too late to come out, look at Joel Gray, a Broadway legend who came out at age 82 in 2015. You might also know him from A Christmas Carol or Cabaret. In an interview with People Magazine, he acknowledged how he doesn’t like to put a label on his sexuality, but he is indeed gay.

This Heartstopper actress has talked about never having had, as she puts it, an “oh my god, I’m trans now” moment — instead, she expressed always having felt more feminine growing up. She told Elle she changed her name and gender marker as a teenager, all before going to college.

Community star Alison Brie came out as bisexual in a BuzzFeed Thirst Tweets video (hey, that's us!) with her husband, Dave Franco. She casually replies to a Tweet that says, “Listen, I am bisexual for a reason and that reason is strictly to be used in a threesome by Dave Franco and Alison Brie” with the one-liner: “That's also why I'm bisexual!” This was in 2023, and she was 41 at the time.

OK, I love Heartstopper with all my heart (no pun intended), so I had to include another actor from the show. Joe, who plays Charlie, officially came out to the public in 2023, but he’s actually been out since long before — specifically, he says he’s been openly out since he was 12.

OK, maybe this isn’t technically “later” in life — although it is relatively late into his career, and I also just had to mention one of my favourite actors, Elliot Page! He came out as transgender in 2020 at age 32, and also published a book last year called Pageboy that discusses his experience coming out as queer and again as transgender.

Of course, now, Troye is a major LGBTQ+ icon and performer (yes, I’m still not over “Rush”), but he started out as a YouTuber, making videos ranging from challenges to covers. I vividly remember watching Troye’s “Coming Out” video on YouTube in 2013, but what I didn’t know was that he’d come out to his family three years before, when he was 15. 

An ‘00s icon, Sophia Bush came out as queer through an essay in Glamour just recently, in April 2024, at 41. She talks about how she feels like she’s always seen her sexuality as being “on a spectrum,” and how finally coming out as queer leaves her with a feeling so strong, she “can’t say it without smiling.”

After spending several years on Dance Moms, which is where she rose to fame, JoJo came out at the age of 17. If you don’t remember, she basically posted a photo on her Instagram Story of herself wearing a shirt that said, “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” She’s since talked about how she didn’t realize how scary and impactful the decision was until later on.

George, who is most known for his roles in Star Trek and Mulan, came out as gay later in life, at age 68. He’d been with his partner for almost two decades, but explained how homophobia in the industry had set him back in an interview with The Stage. “I learned at a young age that you couldn’t be an openly gay actor and hope to be employed,” he explained. “And I was already an Asian-American actor, so I was already limited a lot.”

Chris has been an inspiration to LGBTQ+ people for over a decade. He came out during the first year of Glee in 2009, after finding out that his character Kurt was gay — and even though he was warned not to, he decided it was “more important” to be a role model. At 19, he showed immense bravery and came out on an episode of Chelsea Lately.

Jodie Foster came out at 50 in her acceptance speech for the Cecil B DeMille Award at the 2013 Golden Globes. She teased the audience by announcing that she was single, and then saying, “I hope you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big coming-out speech tonight. I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age.”

Bretman Rock is one of the celebs that really never had an official “coming out” moment — ever since he started posting on the Internet, he’s always been openly gay, and never formally came out to his parents since they “always knew.” Then, in 2023, he discussed being non-binary, explaining how he goes by “all the pronouns” — he also talked about how he feels like he’s always been non-binary because of the nature of his native language.

Ten years after getting divorced from Dave Hall, a record producer, Wanda announced that she was a lesbian at 44 during a 2008 gay rights rally in Las Vegas. At that time, she’d just gotten married to her partner Alex Sykes. She discussed how she felt like she “had to say something” when the issue became political.

Willow, who you might know from singing “Wait A Minute” or “Whip My Hair” (what a flashback), came out at the age of 19 to Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk, a Facebook show the pair hosts together. Willow also talked about being interested in polyamory in the same episode.

If you weren’t big on pop culture in 2010, you might have missed when Ricky Martin came out on his blog at age 38, calling himself a “fortunate homosexual man.” This was after years of rumours, speculation, and even boundary-crossing interviews (yes, the one with Barbara Walters, where she basically puts him on the spot and asks whether or not he’s gay).

Rowan, who rose to fame starring in Disney’s Girl Meets World, came out as queer at the age of 14, explaining how she prefers not to put a specific label on her sexuality. She did so in a series of Tweets and, like many other celebs on this list, talked about how daunting the experience was years later.

The Sex and the City actress started dating her now-wife, Christine Marinoni, in 2004, when she was 38 — but she didn’t officially come out as queer until 2020, when she was 54. Cynthia explained it as, “To say ‘queer’ means, ‘I’m over there, I don’t have to go into the nuances of my sexuality with you.”

Kim, who you might know from singing "Unholy" with Sam Smith, started her transition at age 12. Since then, she's become more open about her trans identity — including the many struggles she's experienced in accepting herself. Kim also talked about how, over the course of her career, she's become more comfortable opening up about her transition through music.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper came out in 2012, when he was 45. He’s since talked about his struggles with homophobia growing up — for one, he wanted to join the army in the 80s, only to find out that being gay was “incompatible with military service,” according to US law. But now, he refers to being gay as “one of the blessings” of his life (and BTW, his kids are SO CUTE).