Janelle Monáe, Sam Smith, Elton John & Miley Cyrus
Getty Images, AP; Design by Jessica Xie
In honor of Billboard's inaugural Pride issue, we look back at at some of the biggest coming-out moments of the past few decades.
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From Elton John to Janelle Monáe, a History of Coming Out in Music
Image Credit: Getty Images, AP; Design by Jessica Xie In honor of Billboard's inaugural Pride issue, we look back at at some of the biggest coming-out moments of the past few decades.
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David Bowie (1972)
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images “I’m gay and always have been, even when I was David Jones.” — interview in Melody Maker; he’d later disavow the comment as the “biggest mistake [he] ever made” in a 1983 Rolling Stone interview.
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Feather Duster
Image Credit: Terry O'Neill/Hulton Archive/Getty Images “There's nothing wrong with going to bed with somebody of your own sex. I think everybody's bisexual to a certain degree. I don't think it's just me. It's not a bad thing to be. I think you're bisexual. I think everybody is.” — interview in Rolling Stone; he’d later call himself gay.
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Boy George
Image Credit: Mike Prior/Getty Images “Yeah, of course I am.” — in a TV interview with Barbara Walters, who asked if he was bisexual. He’d later identify as gay.
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k.d. lang (1992)
Image Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images “I feel like it’s a part of my life, my sexuality, but it’s not—it certainly isn’t my cause. But also I have never denied [being gay]. I don’t try to hide it like some people in the industry.” — interview in The Advocate
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Melissa Etheridge (1993)
Image Credit: Brill/ullstein bild via Getty Images “I’m very proud to have been a lesbian all my life.” — at the Triangle Ball, an LGBTQ celebration of Bill Clinton’s first inauguration.
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Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant (1994)
Image Credit: Steve Thorne/Redferns via Getty Images “I am gay, and I have written songs from that point of view…those are the facts of the matter.” — interview in Attitude
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George Michael (1998)
Image Credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images “I have no problem with people knowing that I’m in a relationship with a man.” — on CNN after being arrested for “engaging in a lewd act” in a public restroom.
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Michael Stipe (2001)
Image Credit: Tim Roney/Getty Images “[I’m in] a relationship with an amazing man.” — interview in Time, in which he also called himself “a queer artist.” (The declaration flew somewhat under the radar; a 2008 interview with SPIN in which he discussed his sexuality was covered as a long-suspected but official coming-out: “Now I recognize that to have public figures be very open about their sexuality helps some kid somewhere out there,” he said.)
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Lance Bass (2006)
Image Credit: Jeff Vespa/WireImage “I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said [that I was gay], it would overpower everything.” — in a People cover story
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Darren Hayes (2006)
Image Credit: Tim Roney/Getty Images "I feel lucky to live in an era where my relationship can be considered legally legitimate…. I am proud of who I am, and after what felt like an eternity, I'm finally in a place where my heart is secure and content. And I can finally make sense of all of the searching." — in a website post revealing the civil partnership ceremony he had with his partner the previous month.
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Clay Aiken (2008)
Image Credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images “Yes, I’m gay.” — in a People cover story
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Lady Gaga (2009)
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation “I’ve certainly had sexual relationships with women.” — in a TV interview with Barbara Walters. (During a fan Q&A in 2013, Gaga said: “It’s not a lie that I am bisexual and I like women, and anyone that wants to twist this into ‘she says she’s bisexual for marketing,’ this is a fucking lie. This is who I am and who I have always been.”)
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Adam Lambert (2009)
Image Credit: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay.” — in a Rolling Stone cover story
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Kele Okereke (2010)
Image Credit: Richard Ecclestone/Redferns "My parents are super-Catholic, and they come from a culture in Nigeria where there weren't any visible gay people who were out and were happy." — interview in Butt Magazine, though his sexuality had come up obliquely in other interviews.
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Lady Sovereign (2010)
Image Credit: Scott Gries/Getty Images "Magazines would always ask about it but [questions about my sexuality] would get stopped by my publicists. It was my choice, too, because I was a bit worried about it — but now I don’t really give a shit." — interview in Diva Magazine; she said in the interview that she previously came out during her time on Celebrity Big Brother but that the footage never made it to air.
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Ricky Martin (2010)
Image Credit: Rodrigo Varela/WireImage Ricky Martin performs onstage during the 2013 Person of the Year honoring Miguel Bose at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on Nov. 20, 2013 in Las Vegas.
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Jonathan Knight (2011)
Image Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images “I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay!” — in a New Kids on the Block blog post after pop singer Tiffany appeared to have accidentally outed him during a Watch What Happens Live appearance.
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Frank Ocean (2012)
Image Credit: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images “I was 19 years old. He was too…. It was my first love, it changed my life.” — in a lengthy Tumblr post; Ocean has never labeled his sexuality.
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Mika (2012)
Image Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images “If you ask me am I gay, I say yeah." — interview in Instinct magazine; in a 2009 interview he had said, “I’ve never labeled myself … Call me what you want. Call me bisexual if you need a term.”
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Laura Jane Grace (2012)
Image Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Governors Ball “The cliché is that you’re a woman trapped in a man’s body, but it’s not that simple.” — coming out as transgender in a Rolling Stone interview
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Troye Sivan (2013)
Image Credit: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for iHeartMedia "On August 7, 2010, I told my family that I am gay, and now on August 7, 2013, I want you guys to know that I'm gay." — YouTube video on Sivan's own channel
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Sam Smith (2014)
Image Credit: Victoria Will/Invision/AP “In the Lonely Hour is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back… I want to be clear that that’s what it’s about.” — interview in FADER
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Miley Cyrus (2015)
Image Credit: John Lamparski/WireImage “I’m very open about it — I’m pansexual.” — interview in Elle UK; (Earier that year, Miley Cyrus told the AP that not all of her relationships had been “straight, heterosexual” ones. She also told TIME that she identified as genderfluid but was not entirely satisfied with the label: “I’m just equal. I’m just even. It has nothing to do with any parts of me or how I dress or how I look. It’s literally just how I feel.”)
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Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui (2016)
Image Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty Images “I am a bisexual Cuban-American woman.” — in a Billboard op-ed
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Teddy Geiger (2017)
Image Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for BMI Teddy Geiger attends 66th Annual BMI Pop Awards at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 8, 2018 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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Aaron Carter (2017)
Image Credit: Sara Jaye Weiss/REX/Shutterstock Aaron Carter photographed on May 22, 2017.
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Barry Manilow (2017)
Image Credit: Rob Ball/Redferns “I thought I would be disappointing [my fans] if they knew I was gay…. [but] when they found out… they were so happy." — in a People cover story
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iLoveMakonnen (2017)
Image Credit: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images iLoveMakonnen attends the record release party for "Drink More Water 6" at No Vacancy on March 22, 2016 in Los Angeles.
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Janelle Monáe (2018)
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images “[As] someone who has been in relationships with both men and women — I consider myself to be a free-ass motherfucker.” — coming out as pansexual in a Rolling Stone cover story