Bella Thorne kissed and helped a fan come out during Pride month
Bisexual actress Bella Thorne has helped a fan come out as bisexual on social media by kissing her at a Pride event in Los Angeles.
The fan — model Jazz Egger — shared a photo of the pair locking lips with her 40,000 Twitter followers with the caption “happy pride #comingout .”
Speaking to PinkNews, Egger said she was so nervous about meeting Thorne that her voice was shaking but the actress managed to calm her down.
Egger explained that the kiss wasn’t planned. She had been talking to Throne about how she wanted to come out this Pride season when the kiss “just happened.”
The reaction to Egger’s coming out has been largely positive though she says she lost followers after sharing the picture on Instagram.
“I lost hundreds of followers after I came out but I’m also gaining new supporters so I’m totally okay with it,” she told PinkNews.
Egger says she still feels anxious about coming out so publicly.
“We still live in a day and age where people get discriminated for things like that. I was hoping for years I would never have to come out because it’s gonna be the most normal thing soon but that never really happened,” Egger said.
Egger said it was important for her to come out this Pride season because there is still a lot of work to do in the LGBT+ community.
“Every person who feels comfortable enough to come out gives another person the strength to do it. I made the right choice,” she said.
Thorne has shown solidarity with the model. She commented on the picture of them kissing: “Be who you are you deserve it.”
Egger hadn’t expected to come out in such a public way but said Throne’s support has helped her deal with her anxiety.
“It’s okay because she backs me up, having someone like Bella Thorne in your corner can change the entire game.”
To anyone else thinking about coming out, Egger’s advice would be: “Take your time, don’t rush it unless you are sure that’s what you want… You are brave and wild and wonderful and no one can ever take that away from you.
“Just know that you’re not alone and that it’s totally okay if you want to wait. You don’t have to have a big coming out like me, sometimes being able to look into the mirror and being able to say ‘I’m perfect this way. I love myself this way’ is already enough.”
Bella Thorne (Getty)
Bella Throne came out as bisexual on Snapchat in 2016
Thorne came out in 2016 and has had public relationships with both men and women.
In an interview with Gay Times, the actress revealed that coming out has cost her acting roles.
“There were a few places on the acting side that were very negative about it… There was someone who, right after I came out, cancelled my audition,” said Thorne.
“It’s not like anybody comes up to you and says, ‘Well, you’re gay so I’m not going to hire you.’ I haven’t had that,” she continued.
“But you can just tell by the way that people act differently around you, the way they treat you differently, the way that they look at you or the way that they tiptoe around certain subjects because they’re walking on eggshells.
“In this business, that behaviour makes it all very obvious.”
