Love, Simon Creator Comes Out As Bisexual After Facing Criticism For Profiting Off Queer Stories

The Love, Simon creator is having a coming out moment of her own!

Becky Albertalli — the author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which the film Love, Simon was based on, along with other books that made up the Simonverse — came out as bisexual on Monday in an emotional essay for Medium.

The revelation came after readers voiced criticism that Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens, a coming-of-age coming out story, was written by a seemingly straight woman. Many felt it wasn’t Albertalli’s place to tell — and, more importantly, profit off of — queer stories.

But in her post, the 37-year-old claimed that writing Simon’s coming out story actually helped her discover her own sexuality. She wrote:

“I’m bi. Sorry, it took me so long to get here. But then again, at least the little red coming out book (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens) I needed was already on my shelf (in about thirty different languages). I think I finally know why I wrote it.”

Sounds like the story just, well… came out of her!

The scribe — who is “happily” married to a man — went on to say she “legitimately didn’t realize” her same-sex attraction, continuing:

“Y’all, I didn’t know. I legitimately didn’t realize. I’m thirty-seven years old. I’ve been happily married to a guy for almost ten years. I have two kids and a cat. I’ve never kissed a girl. I never even realized I wanted to. But if I rewind further, I’m pretty sure I’ve had crushes on boys and girls for most of my life. I just didn’t realize the girl crushes were crushes.”

It happens!

Becky confessed she’s really only coming out publicly because of the “searingly personal” criticism she’s received, as many have accused her of “writing s***ty queer books for the straights, profiting off of communities I had no connection to.”

She explained:

“Let me be perfectly clear: this isn’t how I wanted to come out. This doesn’t feel good or empowering, or even particularly safe. Honestly, I’m doing this because I’ve been scrutinized, subtweeted, mocked, lectured, and invalidated just about every single day for years, and I’m exhausted. And if you think I’m the only closeted or semi-closeted queer author feeling this pressure, you haven’t been paying attention.”

Awww. Someone get Jennifer Garner to tell this woman it’s all gonna be okay!

Albertalli concluded her essay with a plea for the LGBTQ community to be even more inclusive with those still questioning their sexualities, adding:

“Can we make space for those of us who are still discovering ourselves? Can we be a little more compassionate? Can we make this a little less awful for the next person?”

Agreed!

Less shade, more love, you gays!

What do U think of the author’s admission?

[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN/20th Century Fox]