Don’t Label Raven-Symoné ‘Gay’ or ‘African American’

06 Oct, 2014

The star of TV’s The Cosby Show and That’s So Raven sat down with Oprah Winfrey and attempted to clarify the misconceptions about who she is.

One of the topics the women addressed occurred in August 2013, when the Supreme Court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. At the time, she tweeted, “I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you.”

Many people saw it as her way of publicly coming out. Asked to explain, Raven replied, “That was my way of saying I’m proud of the country. But, I will say that I’m in an amazing, happy relationship with my partner. A woman.”

“People in my family, they’ve taught me to keep my personal life to myself as much as possible. So, I try my best to hold the fence where I can,” Raven added. “But I am proud to be who I am and what I am.”

When did Raven know she was interested in other women?

“I knew when I was, like, 12,” the entertainer, now 28, recalled. “I was looking at everything.” Still, the actress cautioned, “I don’t want to be labeled ‘gay.’ I want to be labeled ‘a human who loves humans.'”

“I’m tired of being labeled,” she said. “I’m an American. I’m not an African American; I’m an American.”

“Oh, girl,” a surprised Winfrey said. “Don’t set up Twitter on fire…Oh, my lord. What did you just say?”

“I mean, I don’t know where my roots go to,” Raven explained. “I don’t know how far back they go…I don’t know what country in Africa I’m from, but I do know that my roots are in Louisiana. I’m an American. And that’s a colorless person.” Winfrey warned, “You’re going to get a lot of flak for saying you’re not African American. You know that, right?” The College Road Trip star put her hand up and reiterated, “I don’t label myself. I have darker skin. I have a nice, interesting grade of hair. I connect with Caucasian. I connect with Asian. I connect with Black. I connect with Indian. I connect with each culture.”

“You are a melting pot in one body,” Winfrey said.

“Aren’t we all?” Raven asked. “Isn’t that what America’s supposed to be?”

In the same interview, Raven revealed how she managed to stay out of the tabloids at a time when many of her peers, including her rarely there roommate Lindsay Lohan, often made headlines for the wrong reasons.

“There’s a few answers: My parents taught me to keep my private life private to the best of my ability,” she said. “They showed me out there all the role models that I could turn into and what I want from myself in the future and seeing all of the statistics [with] child stars going off the edge.”

She continued, “And what I’ve learned? It’s unnecessary to go to the world’s most popular restaurant when you have a scandal on your head and then get mad when someone is going to take a picture of you. That’s your fault, boo boo. Stay in the house.”

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