‘I give enough of myself’

“It’s enough that people know that I’m a queer person who can have relationships with men or women, or neither,” the ‘Wicked’ actress told ‘Vanity Fair’.

Cynthia Erivo keeps her relationship cards close to her chest.

The actress opened up about her personal life – and why she prefers to keep it private – during a joint interview with Bad costar Ariana Grande, for Vanity fair‘s November 2024 issue ahead of the highly anticipated release of the first part of their musical film.

“I keep my lips tight-lipped about my relationships because I don’t think my relationship is for anyone else but me,” says Erivo, 37. “I spend a lot of my life sharing everything – or now my work or my soul or my life in speeches. I think I care enough of myself that I can keep something for myself.”

And while she admitted that she “may change her mind at some point,” the two-time Academy Award nominee added of her current choice, “I think it’s OK.”

“It’s enough that people know that I’m a queer person who can have relationships with men or women, or neither,” Erivo said.

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In May, Erivo spoke about “claiming my queerness in public, and especially in the public eye” during her speech at the Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala while accepting the Rand Schrader Award, explaining that it “meant that you had to take a risk to claim my freedom.”

Erivo said during her speech that it is “a privilege to stand on this stage tonight, because for so long I have lived in deep admiration for anyone who could fully embody their true, authentic self, wear their strangeness like a feather boa and proudly saying, ‘This is a beautiful part of who I am.’ “

“I always said it felt like I was looking at my own community from a glass box,” says the Outsider actress continued. ‘They were lively and beautiful, they fell in love. And I had my nose pressed against the glass and I was looking at all of you, separate and apart.”

“It took me time to grow out of my box, but time is a gift that gives us the space to see ourselves clearly enough to know that denying any part of ourselves is a disservice to the entire being,” said Erivo. “And now the glass has shattered and there’s no glass to be seen. And I’ve walked into the wide open spaces, into the arms of all of you, and it feels like home.”

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Related: Cynthia Erivo Reflects on Coming Out as Queer: ‘It’s Great to Just Be Me, It Really Is’

Erivo previously opened up about her sexuality and the pressures of living in the community during her interview British Fashion‘s August 2022 issue of Pride, in which she admitted that it took her a long time to reveal that she is bisexual.

“[LGBTQ+ people] We still feel the need to constantly justify why we deserve to be treated as equal beings, when really the only difference is that we love and express ourselves differently,” he said. Harriet star.

“Instead of being punished for it, we should be praised for being brave. That is the most important thing: giving people the space to fully show who they are,” Erivo continued.

The actress also gave advice to those who wanted to help the community but didn’t know how: “Find their queer family and go talk to them.”

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