Musician Janelle Monáe has opened up about her gender identity on Red Table Talk.
As per Rolling Stone, this week she revealed to the public that she is non-binary, with a rep confirming to the outlet that she continues to use she/her pronouns.
In a separate interview with the LA Times, the 'I Like That' singer, 36, said she goes by they/them as well as she/her pronouns.
Speaking on Red Table Talk, Monáe said: “I’m non-binary, so I just don’t see myself as a woman solely. I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the 'she'. And if I am from God, I am everything.
"But I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything that I am, beyond the binary.”
Monáe added that her attraction to someone goes beyond their gender expression and that she sees their "energy first" because it "opens you up to fall in love with any beautiful spirit".
Watch Janelle Monáe's Red Table Talk episode:
During the latest episode of Red Table Talk, Willow Smith asked Monáe what inspired her to come out.
Monáe answered, “Somebody said, ‘If you don’t work out the things that you need to work out first before you share with the world, then you’ll be working it out with the world.’ That’s what I didn’t want to do. So I thought I needed to have all my answers correct, I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
She also shared that she hasn't spoken about her gender identity with her family yet: “I wasn’t ready to have my family question my personal life or get calls from people who still look at me as Little Pumpkin - that’s what they call me back home.”
“I needed to talk to my dad, who was just great. My sister knew already because I’ve been in monogamous relationships; I’ve been in polyamorous relationships. But I knew that I couldn’t be Little Pumpkin. I couldn’t be little Janelle,” she further explained.
After appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2018, Monáe came out as pansexual, which is an attraction to people regardless of their gender or sex. She explained to the magazine that she initially identified as bisexual, then she read about pansexuality and realized that she identified with that more.
Back in 2020 during an interview with Variety, Monáe also said she was "exploring" and open to what the universe is teaching her about gender.
Monáe dropped her memoir The Memory Librarian last week and this year, she will star in Rian Johnson’s murder-mystery Knives Out 2, which is slated for release in theatres and on Netflix this fall.
