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Hayden Panettiere has publicly come out as bisexual, saying she is now ready to openly share a part of herself she had kept private for years.
The Heroes and Nashville star revealed the news while discussing her upcoming memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, where she speaks about her sexuality and personal life in detail.
"Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I've chosen to share it with the world, I'm comfortable to confidently say that yes, I am bisexual," she told US Weekly. "I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud."
Panettiere, 36, said she had known for a long time but didn't feel the timing was right to speak about it publicly earlier in her career. "It was just never the right time," she explained.
She said that growing up in the spotlight made it harder to be open about her identity. "I was not encouraged to just be myself," she added.
She also said she once felt pressure around how public coming out stories were viewed. "It felt like people coming out, especially women, saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad," she said, adding that she worried about being seen as "jumping on the bandwagon."
Panettiere said she has dated women in the past but often struggled with privacy due to fame. "It was scary because there were paparazzi always waiting for me outside," she said, adding, "I have dated women. I was much more into women even as a child than I was men."
She also said her hesitation came from not feeling emotionally secure enough to fully explore relationships openly.
Panettiere said writing her memoir helped her come to terms with sharing her truth. "I've chosen to be completely brutally honest about this," she said.
She added simply, "I'm comfortable saying I'm bisexual. I said it!"
The actress, who shares a daughter with former partner Wladimir Klitschko, said she hopes her openness will encourage others to accept themselves and speak their truth when they are ready.
