Queen Latifah: I Didn't Come Out

After a performance at the Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride event that was widely assumed to be a statement about her sexual orientation, Queen Latifah came out โ€” as a performer who deeply appreciates her gay friends but closely guards her personal life โ€” but not, to the disappointment of many, as a lesbian.…

After a performance at the Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride event that was widely assumed to be a statement about her sexual orientation, Queen Latifah came out โ€” as a performer who deeply appreciates her gay friends but closely guards her personal life โ€” but not, to the disappointment of many, as a lesbian. If you're waiting for an announcement about her love life, don't hold your breath. "It's just not gonna happen," she told Entertainment Weekly.

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Latifah was happy, however, to talk about what the performance meant to her: "I know that the most important thing, and the only thing I have to give, is love. When people are going through hatred and bullying, the biggest thing to fight that is love," she said. "So that's all I encouraged my audience to do that night: to share their light and share their love. Period."

Queen Latifah wants to be clear: Despite speculation online, her performance at Long Beachโ€™s Lesbian & Gay Pride event on May 19 was not a signal that she was coming out as a lesbian. โ€œThat definitely wasnโ€™t the case,โ€ she tells EW. โ€œIโ€™ve never dealt with the question of my personal life in public. Itโ€™s just not gonna happen.โ€

That said, the 42-year old was thrilled to participate in the event and even recalled an earlier performance for gay audiences. โ€œTo me, doing a gay pride show is one of the most fun things,โ€ she says. โ€œMy first show that paid more than $10,000 was in a gay club on New Yearโ€™s Eve in San Francisco. Tupac happened to be in town, so he came to kick it with me. This was the early โ€™90s. And the boys were like, โ€˜Take your shirt off, Tupac!โ€™ย  He wasnโ€™t doing that. But we had a blast in there.โ€

Read more at Entertainment Weekly.

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