10 Disney Channel Stars Who Have Come Out as LGBTQ+

Since their run on Disney ended, many stars have admitted that they felt obligated to hide a part of themselves, especially if they were a member of the LGBTQ+ community. But in the years that followed, these queer stars have all opened up about their sexuality and have been welcomed with open arms by many of their fans.

Find out what these stars said about their coming out experience…

Miley Cyrus came out as pansexual in 2015, sharing that she was “open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn't involve an animal and everyone is of age.” Miley later opened up about the moment she knew she was pansexual, explaining that she had always “hated the word ‘bisexual’” and didn’t know about pansexuality until taking a trip to the LGBTQ center in L.A.

“I went to the LGBTQ center here in L.A., and I started hearing these stories. I saw one human in particular who didn’t identify as male or female. Looking at them, they were both: beautiful and sexy and tough but vulnerable and feminine but masculine. And I related to that person more than I related to anyone in my life,” she told Variety. “Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, ‘Oh -- that’s why I don’t feel straight and I don’t feel gay. It’s because I’m not.’”

Looking back on her childhood, Demi Lovato says that she was very “closeted off” while  growing up in the public eye. Demi explained any attraction they felt towards a female, they had to “shut it down” before they even let themselves process their thoughts. Over time, Demi eventually realized that she was open to dating all kinds of people and considers herself pansexual.

“I’m so fluid now -- and a part of the reason why I am so fluid is because I was super closeted off…yeah, [I’m] pansexual. I heard someone call the LGBTQIA+ community the ‘alphabet mafia,’ and I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I’m going with,” Demi said on The Joe Rogan Experience.

In 2016, several years after her Disney Channel show ended, Bella Thorne came out as bisexual. In the years that followed, she says she realized she related more to being pansexual but hadn’t previously really understood what that meant until someone thoroughly explained it to her.

“I’m actually pansexual, and I didn’t know that. Somebody explained to me really thoroughly what that is,” she said on Good Morning America, adding, “You like beings. You like what you like. Doesn’t have to be a girl or a guy or a he or she or they or this or that. It’s literally you like personality. You just like a being.”

Hayley Kiyoko was one of the stars of Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth and made guest appearances of Wizards of Waverly Place -- but didn’t come out until years later. Looking back, she says she was “very insecure for exposing [herself] as a flaming lesbian” especially now that she can see that she didn’t “mask” her “lesbian energy” very well.

“Especially being closested at this time, anytime I was on TV, I was very concerned and worried that people would know that I was gay,” Hayley told them, adding of her Lemonade Mouth role, “This character is saying, ‘Be heard, be strong, be proud’ and at the time, I wasn’t that. So it’s really cool to look back and see that my character in this movie was almost like foreshadowing my future self.”

Raven-Symoné didn’t come out as gay for many years after That’s So Raven ended. While she understood her sexual orientation from the time she was a young teenager, she admitted that she thought she was never going to be able to come out because of her career. When she later decided to retire from the entertainment industry around 2013, she felt safe enough to publicly come out as a lesbian.

While she didn’t end up retiring, her fans were incredibly receptive to her sexuality and by the time she started working on the That’s So Raven reboot, Disney even suggested making her character queer. Raven ultimately turned them down.

“I think Disney wanted her to be queer in the beginning and I just didn’t feel comfortable doing that. They were like, ‘Do you want Raven to be gay?’ I said, ‘Why?’ [and they said,] ‘Because you are.' I said, 'Bad, bad reason. That's a bad reason,’” Raven told them. “No, Raven Baxter never exhibited any type of sexual identity situation in the priors. I’m not being myself on this show, I’m being a character. Raven Baxter’s not gay.”

Rowan Blanchard was still starring on Girl Meets World when she came out as queer in a post on social media. While she admitted at the time that it was “definitely scary” sharing something so personal, she worked to brush off the negative response from some fans.

“In my life—only ever liked boys. However I personally don't wanna label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with—just existing;),” Rowan shared, later adding, “Yes, [I’m] open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer.”

When Josie Totah was a little girl, she appeared on the Disney series Jessie where she portrayed Stuart. Although many people assumed she was gay growing up, it wasn’t until 2018 that she came out as a trangender woman. In a candid essay, Josie shared her truth, which was different than what many people had believed.

“I let myself be shoved into a box: ‘J.J. Totah, gay boy.’ When I was really young, growing up in a small town in Northern California, people would just assume I was gay…Then I found myself playing that role once I got into the entertainment industry, and people kept assuming my identity. Numerous reporters have asked me in interviews how it feels to be a young gay man…I almost felt like I owed it to everybody to be that gay boy. But that has never been the way I think of myself,” Josie wrote in a piece for Time.

She continued, “In the past, I’ve halfway corrected people by telling them I identify as LGBTQ. I wasn’t ready to be more specific. I was afraid I wouldn’t be accepted, that I would be embarrassed, that the fans who knew me from the time when I acted in a Disney show would be confused. But I realized over the past few years that hiding my true self is not healthy…My pronouns are she, her and hers. I identify as female, specifically as a transgender female. And my name is Josie Totah.”

Camp Rock star Alyson Stoner came out as queer in a personal essay in 2018. At the time, they had fallen in love with a woman and felt that it was doing her a disservice to hide their relationship any longer. When they made the decision to come out, they were told that there were risks -- but she moved forward anyway.

“Some people in the industry warned me that I’d ruin my career, miss out on possible jobs, and potentially put my life in danger if I ever came out. My dream and all I’d worked tirelessly for since the age of 6 was suddenly at risk by my being…true to myself,” Alyson wrote for Teen Vogue.

Ultimately, Alyson did end up getting fired from a children’s show because executives allegedly felt they were “unsafe” to be around children. Despite the discrimination, Alyson says it was all worth it and the “beauty far outweighs the hate comments and death threats.”

Dove Cameron came out as queer in 2020, after wrapping her roles on Liv & Maddie as well as the Descendants franchise. While she wasn’t out during her Disney Channel run, Dove later joked that she believed most of her characters had been part of the LGBTQ+ community. She ultimately decided to come out after the release of her song “We Belong,” as many fans used it as an example of queerbaiting and she wanted to shut that down.

“When the song came out, everybody got the idea that the song was a big LGBTQ+ anthem song and I found myself in this position where everyone thought I was queerbaiting,” she told Gay Times. “I went on Instagram Live and said ‘Guys, I really needed to explain something to you. Maybe I haven’t said it, but I’m super queer. This is something I want to represent through my music because it's who I am.’”

In 2023, Jessie star Karan Brar came out as bisexual in an essay for Teen Vogue. In the emotional piece, he reflected on the struggle between the “public Karan and private Karan” and hiding his true self “until cracks started to form.” While he first opened up to close friends who were very accepting, his world was rocked with the passing of his best friend and co-star Cameron Boyce. It ultimately forced him to check into rehab while dealing with “depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.”

“I’d spent years trying to fastidiously maintain a public facade, and yet there I was, fulfilling the Disney star rehab prophecy I had been adamant on avoiding. I was flooded with a sense of failure, but there was no turning back now,” Karan wrote.

Thankfully, he was able to get the help he needed and now find his “emotions to be much more manageable.” While he still likes to “keep things close to the vest online,” he now feels “the gap between who I am and who I appear to be is shrinking.”