Sophie Turner has a big year coming up. First, she's joining the fight for the Iron Throne in the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, which kicks off next month. Then she will flex her superpowers when she takes centre stage as the titular character in the next X-Men installment, Dark Phoenix.
However, it was something else entirely that caught people's eye in a recent interview as Sophie briefly opened up about her sexuality.
Talking to Rolling Stone, Sophie, 23, spoke about her relationship with Joe Jonas, whom she got engaged to in 2017. She said: "I think once you’ve found the right person, you just know. I feel like I’m much older a soul than I am in age. I feel like I’ve lived enough life to know."
"I’ve met enough guys to know — I’ve met enough girls to know," Sophie continued. When questioned about what she meant when she said "girls", Sophie added: "Everyone experiments. It’s part of growing up. I love a soul, not a gender."
Of course, there was an immediate reaction to the news on Twitter, with many people celebrating Sophie's openness.
sophie turner just came out 💙
sophie turner came out another win for the gays ✨
SOPHIE TURNER LOWKEY CAME OUT. I KNEW IT. I FUCKING KNEW IT.
However, this quickly started a debate about labelling other people's sexuality, since Sophie didn’t explicitly reveal how she identifies.
what sophie said is very validating for a lot of people and that’s cool but she sure didn’t label herself as pan or bi so it’s probably not cute to act like she did
you cannot just label real life people as whatever you want. if they claim a label, use that label. if they don’t, you don’t get to choose one for them. end of story.
to all the people arguing whether sophie is pan or bi, she’s literally neither. she’s never labeled herself & she doesn’t have to. you have no right to decide a label for her, so shut up
Others accused people of erasing pansexuality, where someone is attracted to a person regardless of gender identity, which differs from bisexuality — defined as an attraction to two or more genders.
I can’t believe the amount of bisexuals trying to erase pansexuality on a post of Sophie Turner coming out. She didn’t use a specific label but she said, “I love a soul not a gender.”
Sophie joins her Game of Thrones costar Maisie Williams, who was also part of the Rolling Stone interview, in opening up about her sexuality.
Speaking about the subject in a 2016 interview with Nylon, Maisie said:
I've never sat up and thought about my sexuality for hours. It's like what Shailene Woodley said: 'I fall in love with personalities and not people or genders.' I have no problem with anyone who would want to be labelled, but I also think that it is no one's business.
You can read Sophie and Maisie's Rolling Stone interview here.
UPDATE
This post has been updated to reflect that bisexuality is an attraction to two or more genders.