In the past 15 years, the LGBT community has been targeted as a vastly lucrative demographic to market to. To most strategic marketing companies, LGBT consumers are the ones with the most disposable incomes so it's become wildly popular to appeal to us, not just in movies, music, fashion and television, but celebrity personalities recognized that loyal gay and lesbian fans could set their careers ablaze, making them appear hip, trendy and progressive. Thus, it's no surprise that a lot of celebrities actually fake it to make it.
While no celeb has pretended to be full on gay, they do like to allude, sometimes with great ambiguity, to being bisexual in order to maintain their status quo with the opposite gender while attempting to be inclusive of those with same-gender attractions. Suggesting one "might be" or "Hasn't denied" being bisexual while never having a same sex relationship firmly plants them on the cover of OUT Magazine or The Advocate, often in shirtless centerfolds doused with grease like some wavy haired blonde on the hood of a car in a 1980's music video. Selling the fantasy works wonders. Sales of movie tickets and records skyrocket, after all. Of course, as is typically the case, we only ever hear about their opposite sex relationships- mostly because that's truly all they have or, alternatively, they remain too ashamed to have a public same sex relationship- but they seem to be praised by the media and celebrated by the community anyway.
Why? Well, it's an illusion. It's a marketing tactic that works again and again, over and over in the industry. It actually began with Angelina Jolie. When her relationship with out model Jenny Shimzu became public, Lesbians around the world trembled with possibility. Angelina confirmed their relationship after she married her then husband, Johnny Lee Miller stating, "I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my husband."
Of course, the difference is that Jenny and Angelina were legitimately in a relationship outside the public eye, before she was a household name. It was REAL. Nowadays, the declaration of bisexuality is mostly manufactured fakery. Regardless, it still works and remains an asset to any upstart hoping to expand their audience.
Who's guilty of feigning gay for pay? Here's some of the game's most obvious players. These stars climbed the ladder of success, balancing themselves on the shoulders of LGBT consumers and media but who have never actually had a public same sex relationship.
Lady Gaga
First the Mother Monster came out as bisexual in an interview with Barbara Walters in 2009 and immediately became a gay icon and poster child for every person who broke socially imposed traditions. And then, she decided she wasn't bisexual anymore and declared her "StraightPride" over gay pride weekend via her instagram in a caption to a photo in which she was dragging one of her token gays by a leash. Since then, she has been engaged to actor Taylor Kinney.
Josh Hutcherson
Carefully manufactured statements like this one made to OUT magazine in 2013 protect an actor from actually having to exhibit bisexuality while still making themselves accessible to throbbing hearts of hopefuls everywhere; “I would probably list myself as mostly straight. Maybe I could say right now I’m 100 percent straight. But who knows? In a fucking year, I could meet a guy and be like, “Whoa, I’m attracted to this person." I’ve met guys all the time that I’m like, Damn, that’s a good-looking guy, you know?” He's currently in a committed relationship with Claudia Traisac. Don't worry, the Hunger Games star might be bi in the future.
Snookie
The spitfire from Jersey Shore claimed to be bisexual in 2012, although adding a disclaimer to remove any sort of expectation that she might ever find a same-sex love interest. She told The Huffington Post “I would never be with a girl because I like…penis. But I’ve experimented.” That's not being bisexual, darling. That's your college years.
Evan Rachel Wood
This True Blood beauty dated Marilyn Manson, and is now our future Mrs. Johnny Depp, but in a 2011 interview with the Daily Beast, she came out as bisexual to much fanfare! But, there were no known same sex relationships before or after, just a lot of applause for her "Bravery." She claims she cried when she came out as bisexual to her Mother... don't worry, doll, as long as you never actually be bisexual.
Megan Fox
In 2009, The Transformers star confessed her bisexuality to Esquire Magazine, “I have no question in my mind about being bisexual.” This set tongues wagging and landed her squarely on the lust-list of both Men and Women around the world. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem all that accurate, as she later confessed to having difficulty and feeling "Uncomfortable" with same-sex kissing scene. Of course, she went on to marry boyfriend Brian Austin Green in 2010 and has since had two children.
Drew Barrymore
In a 2003 interview with Contact Music, Drew said “Do I like women sexually? Yeah, I do. Totally. I have always considered myself bisexual.” She was again quoted in 2004 as saying, “A woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful. Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else. When I was younger I used to go with lots of women. Totally. I love it”.
Well, apparently not enough to have a relationship with one. The twice married Barrymore has never been linked romantically with a woman, yet has publicly dated Luke Wilson, Edward Norton, Justin Long, and director Spike Jonze. Her three marriages include Jeremy Thomas, comedian Tom Green, briefly, while more recently the child actress wed WIll Kopelmen in 2012 and they have 2 children. It's like the Where's Waldo of actual bisexuality. At least it landed her the gig hosting the GLAAD Media awards and was given the Vanguard Award by them in 2010, despite a few doubts from the press of her worthiness.
Anna Paquin
In June of 2014 The X-Men actress took to twitter to announce her bisexuality in a post lending her support to marriage equality. And from a safe distance too; She's been married to fellow actor and co-star Stephen Moyer since 2010, whom she'd been dating for three years. Currently the lovebirds have 2 children. She previously dated actors Joaquin Phoenix and Kieran Culkin,
Kesha
First she told OUT Magazine in 2010 that she "...wouldn’t say I’m gay or straight -– I don’t like labeling things anyway. I just like people." Then, in an interview with Seventeen Magazine that the Huffington Post called "Bold," Ke$ha announced her bisexuality for the second time stating "I don't love just men. I love people. It's not about a gender. It's just about the spirit that exudes from that other person you're with." Well, of all the "people" she's never found any interest in one with a vagina- at least, like so many others on this list, not for a documented relationship. Ke$ha knows just what to say to keep the $ rolling. After dating drummer Alex Carapetis and rap artist T-Pain, she now claims to be madly in love now with Brad Ashenfelter.
Harry Styles
The ruffle-haired boy-bander from One Direction is having a lot of fun playing the game and repeatedly making tween girls nearly hyperventilate at the mere notion he might fancy a man. Literally, he sends them into weeping fits as they take to social media with a quivering lip begging him to outright deny being bisexual. Although he has carried on relationships with Taylor Swift, Kendall Jenner and English television presenter Caroline Flack, he continues to gay-bait the media.
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