Hayden Panettiere Identifies as Bisexual in Interview

Hayden Panettiere publicly identified as bisexual for the first time while promoting her memoir "This Is Me: A Reckoning," set for release on May 19.

The 36-year-old actress, known for roles in "Heroes," "Nashville," and "Scream," shared the revelation in an interview with Us Weekly published on May 6. "Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I've chosen to share it with the world, I'm comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud," she said.

Panettiere explained that she had long felt drawn to women, even more so than men during her childhood, and had dated women in the past. However, she held back from fully embracing those relationships emotionally. "I have explored it, but because I hadn't shared this with anybody, I didn't really have the courage to throw myself fully emotionally into it. Because then if I did fall in love, that wasn't something that I wanted to ever have to hide," she told the magazine.

She attributed her silence to several factors, including intense pressure as a young actress to maintain a perfect image in Hollywood and a lack of privacy due to constant paparazzi...