Rowan Blanchard On What It’s Like To Come Out As Queer Online

Rowan Blanchard, like her character in Girl Meets World, is wise beyond her years. Besides her hit TV show, she’s also the author of the Rookie essay “Sorry Not Sorry,” published two months ago. She’s also now the subject of a profile in Wonderland Magazine. The essay is about not apologizing for basic facets of her appearance and/or personality. She describes needing to grow past the need to apologize for, for example, having hairy legs. Or circles under her eyes. Another thing she doesn’t want to apologize for is identifying as queer. She does so despite the fact that she’s never been attracted to anything but boys. Like Lily-Rose Depp, another teenager who has become mega-famous, she simply does not like to label her sexuality.

“I’m okay with it now,” she tells Wonderland of the backlash to her announcement on social media, “but I still realize that I was allowing people to comment on something that’s very personal. The first day I tweeted about it, it was definitely scary to see people commenting about things that literally have nothing to do with them.” Blanchard’s ability to embrace the confusion inherent for 14-year-olds is heartening. Child stars in the past have been notorious for messed up personal lives, lacking in perspective on the world around them, and growing up in all the wrong ways. Blanchard is notable for growing up extremely quickly and in a positive direction. Although adults have been supportive of non-traditional sexuality for years, the message means more coming from a peer.