Pearl Mackie, who played Doctor Who’s first lesbian companion, just came out as a proud bisexual woman
(Ray Burmiston)
Pearl Mackie, who played the first lesbian companion to Doctor Who, has proudly come out as bisexual.
The actor, who played queer character Bill Potts in the show’s tenth season, came out as bisexual in a moving Pride Month themed Instagram post.
“Proud to be bisexual,” Mackie wrote. “Proud to be Black. Proud of all my LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters and everyone in between.”
She continued: “We matter. You matter. Big love and nuff respect. Happy Pride everyone!”
The actor ended the post with a string of rainbow emojis along with the hashtags #PrideMonth, #LoveisLove, #BlackLivesMatter and #AllBlackLivesMatter.
Doctor Who star Pearl Mackie has been inundated with supportive messages since coming out as bisexual.
She has been greeted with a wave of love and support from fans since coming out yesterday.
“My heart is so full right now! This means the world. Happy Pride, love you so much,” one fan commented.
“Proud of you Pearl. Happy Pride to you and everyone,” another Instagram user said.
Another said: “So happy to have you be a part of the club!”
Proud to be Black. Proud of all my LGBT+ brothers and sisters and everyone in between.
Mackie also shared a series of photos of herself holding a Pride-themed cushion.
Bill Potts had a brief stint on the long-running BBC series. At the end of the tenth season, she was ‘upgraded’ to a Cyberman but was then saved and transformed by her past girlfriend Heather into a water creature who can travel in both space and time across the universe.
Her character returned for the last time in the 2017 Christmas special.
Past queer characters have graced the long-running BBC series.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain in 2017 ahead of her stint on the show, she said it was “great” that Doctor Who was introducing an openly queer character – but pointed out that the show has had many characters who have been “arguably” gay.
“I think it’s the terminology of that that’s actually the ‘first for Doctor Who‘ as it were,” she said.
“It’s about time, isn’t it?” she added.
Past queer characters on the show include River Song (Alex Kingston) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), who were both omnisexual.
Doctor Who has also featured a married lesbian interspecies crime-fighting couple in recurring roles.
