Actress and singer Alyson Stoner is opening up about her sexuality.
Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images
The former Disney star, who is best known for her role in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Cheaper by the Dozen, wrote an emotional essay for Teen Vogue Friday describing her experience falling in love with a woman, who she met at a dance workshop.
"I skimmed the room to find the instructor. There she was, wearing loose jeans and a backward snapback. She flipped and rolled her body around with adventure and total abandon," Stoner writes. "As a Type A perfectionist, I was mesmerized and intimidated."
Stoner says they began hanging out and then decided they were in a relationship.
"I fell in love with a woman," she says.
The romance was not always easy, however. Stoner, 24, explains she spent years trying to understand her same-sex attractions.
"I had internalized some of the harmful beliefs and misconceptions about LGBTQ people and identities. At the time, I thought... Maybe it’s because I’ve experienced abuse from men and therefore I’m scared of intimacy with them (and in general). Maybe it’s because open sexuality is prevalent in my artistic community and I subconsciously just want to fit in," she writes. "Maybe I actually want to be her, and I’m mistaking idolization for romance. Anything besides being gay, please!"
She added that people in the entertainment industry told her that coming out could harm her career and her faith made her desires even more confusing, but eventually, she accepted herself.
"I, Alyson, am attracted to men, women, and people who identify in other ways. I can love people of every gender identity and expression. It is the soul that captivates me," she wrote, not giving herself a specific label. "It is the love we can build and the goodness we can contribute to the world by supporting each other’s best journeys.