In a stellar move for 20BiTeen, Pretty Little Liars actor Tyler Blackburn has come out as bisexual.
Speaking to , the 32-year-old reflected on being bullied as a child and the significance of playing a queer role in the CW reboot of alien drama Roswell.
“I got bullied a lot by other boys, and I just felt like my soul was slowly being taken from me,” he revealed. “You form a shell around yourself for protection. And you start to make decisions based off of things outside of what you want and who you are. I stopped doing so many of the things that I loved doing because it felt safer. That right there is the outcome of oppression. When you literally have to mute who you are in order to feel safe. That’s soul-crushing.”
However, Blackburn says that he now feels “as happy as possible, as free as possible".
“I'm queer," he said.
"I've identified as bisexual since a teenager. I just want to feel powerful in my own skin, and my own mind, and in my own heart.”
Blackburn added that he felt a lot of pressure to come out from members of the LGBTIQ+ community, some of whom treat bisexuality as “a cop-out, or bullsh*t, or the easy way out.”
Having ignored his attraction to men for the majority of his 20s, when Pretty Little Liars wrapped up, Blackburn “really allowed myself to go there and not just wonder about it or lust over it, but experience that vulnerability and experience the emotional aspect of what it is to be bisexual.
“Just because you decide ‘I am this thing’ doesn’t mean you immediately feel like you fit into that thing,” he said.
“That’s another part of the journey that I still don’t always know how to navigate, but I’m feeling more courageous and fortified to explore.”
