Donald Glover says he was reluctant to label his sexuality
'The Lion King' star opened up while interviewing 'I May Destroy You's Michaela Coel for British GQ.
Donald Glover has opened up about his feelings on sexuality and labels.
The actor and ‘This Is America’ singer – who performs music under the stage name Childish Gambino – discusses feeling confused about the matter during his university years while interviewing I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel for the new issue of GQ magazine,
The Lion King star told Coel: “Most of my college years were me being like, ‘I don’t know what I like.’ I had friends who asked, ‘Are you gay?’ And I’d be like, ‘I sort of feel like I am because I love this community.’ You know? But maybe I’m not? And I always was trying to figure out ‘Am I weird for not wanting to label it?’
“Yet, also, I never felt completely safe in just one place.”
Glover has two sons with wife Michelle White, who he wed in 2016.
Asked by Coel “In what ways did you not feel safe?”, he replies: “One time I was really close with this guy – a white guy. I was like, ‘Oh, man, this guy’s my friend.’ And then one day we went to the mall and some black kids ragged on his shorts. He turned to me and said, ‘There are black people and then there are n****s.’
“My brain, my heart… It was really intense, so I go home and I tell my dad. To his credit, he sat there for a minute and just thought about it and then he said, “What do you feel? That’s the most valuable thing right now.'”
He continued: “I think I said, ‘I think I understand what he meant. And that really hurts me.’ But I was in high school, so I didn’t really have the emotional tools to really be like, ‘Oh, I understand,’ because I had no experience. We just never talked again.”
Glover, 37, has scored hits like ‘Summertime Magic’ and ‘Redbone’. His screen roles include Guava Island and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
In 2018, the actor welcomed Star Wars writer’s Jonathan Kasdan suggestion that his character, Lando Calrissian, ws pansexual.
“How can you not be pansexual in space? There are so many things to have sex with”, Glover told Entertainment Weekly at the time.
“I didn’t think that was that weird. Yeah, he’s coming on to everybody. I feel like if you’re in space it’s kind of like, the door is open!
“It’s like, [not] only guys or girls – no, it’s anything. This thing is literally a blob. Are you a man or a woman? Like, who cares? Have a good time out here.”