Tessa Thompson Talks About Helping LGBTQ+ Fans to Come Out

On a recent episode of Variety's Just for Variety podcast, the Thor: Love and Thunder star opened up about how publicly coming out as bisexual empowered other members of her community do the same.

"That's been tremendous," Thompson said. "I've had so many folks write me and say that they were able to come out or to talk to their family, which is a dream."

The actress then went on to discuss how exciting it was to also represent them as the Thor franchise's Valkyrie, who was introduced as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first LGBTQ+ superhero back in 2017, saying that "there is something powerful about seeing an image of yourself reflected in any way."

"But we know all too well there are some ways that really just matter because we don't have enough of it," Thompson added during a brief discussion about queer representation in film and the "tremendous amount of pressure" most Hollywood stars face when it comes to their sexuality.

"I feel really lucky in the sense that I work in real close proximity to people that I think want to advocate for me to be myself and be the fullest expression of myself," Thompson said. However, she also went on to say that we still have "a tremendous amount of work to do," even if she feels "really lucky to exist inside of a space, both in my professional space and my personal space and familial space, where I feel really loved and supported for who I am."

She added, "And I know that is a privilege that not a lot of people share. So to those folks that don't have those spaces, I see them."

Thompson came out in 2018 in an interview with Porter after fans began to speculate about her long-rumored relationship with Janelle Monáe, saying that she wanted "everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved ones."

Read a transcript of her entire conversation here.

Photo via Getty / Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic