Andrea Russett is finally living her truth. The social media personality revealed that she is bisexual, and she took to Instagram to share her story. You see, her coming out story involves finding out that one of her closest friends was homophobic.
“Sandra and I had a very close, very public friendship. Because of that, I feel it’s best I just address this so we can all move on,” Andrea wrote. “I came out to Sandra as bisexual four years ago. (Surprise! Yeah. Not exactly how I planned to come out publicly, but s–t happens I guess). Anyway, she was the very first person I came out to. Following this, as I came out to more and more friends, she was always there to give me advice on girls I liked. She sat with me while I cried about the thought of coming out to my parents. She knew me better than anyone in my life. She was family to me.”
“Over the last year, my friend who is openly gay, attended a nondenominational church with Sandra,” the 23-year-old web star added. “On the drive home he was asking questions about her views on religion, one of them being ‘so do you think I’m going to hell because I’m gay?'”
Her response is something that she wasn’t expecting.
“Sandra responded yes,” Andrea continued. “She went on to tell him that he can be ‘saved’ with conversion therapy. When he shared this information with me I was.. at a loss for words. But still, I knew I needed to ask her directly. I needed to hear it from her mouth. So I did just that.”
Andrea went on to explain how her friend’s reaction truly hurt her.
“I straight up asked Sandra, ‘Do you think that because I’m bisexual, I’m going to hell?’ and she looked at me dead in the eyes and said yes. She went on to tell me that she believes being gay [is] a choice. I asked her is these have always been her views and she said yes. I will never find the words to properly describe [the] hurt I felt in that moment. She was one of the only people I trusted in my life. And now all I can do is rethink every conversation we had, every situation in which I was with a girl around her, and wonder what she really thought of me. Wonder if she was judging me. It is a very deep and personal hurt that I do not plan on acknowledging or discussing after this post. I am heartbroken and confused. I don’t know why she chose to move in with me while having these beliefs. I don’t know that I even want to know at this point.”
Despite this upsetting situation that Andrea experienced with someone she trusted, the star chose to start surrounding herself with people who accepted her for who she is – no matter what her sexual identity is.
“I’m choosing to move forward and focus on the people in my life who love and accept me for who I am,” Andrea went on to explain. “And to anyone who is struggling with anything similar in their life, you are not alone. You are not any less of a person because of who you may choose to love. ‘How you make others feel about themselves says a lot about you.'”
The star went on to thank her fans on Twitter for hearing her out, as she feels like she can finally be free to be her true self.
before i log off for a bit i just wanna say an enormous thank u. for listening. for empathizing. for understanding. i mean it when i say i never thought i would have the strength or courage to come out. it feels like a weight has been lifted, and like i can BREATHE. thank u ♥️
— Andrea Russett (@AndreaRussett) September 22, 2018
We are so glad Andrea is living her truth!
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