Stewart finds her language of love
Actor’s newest project embraces her openness to gender and sexual fluidity
LOS ANGELES Kristen Stewart says she felt a “huge responsibility” to define her sexuality after finding fame in the Twilight movie franchise. But she’s glad today’s young stars don’t have to do so.
The 29-year-old actress said she was “so gay” on Saturday Night Live two years ago. But she sees a shift in culture that has allowed young people to accept fluidity in gender and sexuality.
“I felt this huge responsibility, like one that I was really genuinely worried about, if I wasn’t able to say one way or the other, then was I sort of like forsaking a side?” said Stewart, who also had a long-term relationship with Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson.
“The fact that you don’t have to now is like so much more truthful,” said Stewart.
The actress stars alongside Laura Dern in J.T. LeRoy, a biopic about Savannah Knoop whose sister-in-law Laura Albert created LeRoy as a literary persona. Knoop pretended to be a man in appearances as the celebrated author, and now identifies as nonbinary.
Stewart celebrates that decision along with statements from younger Hollywood stars who have refused to label their sexuality.
“If you were to have this conversation with someone like in high school, they’d probably like roll their eyes and go, ‘Why are you complicating everything so much?’ ... Just sort of do what you want to do,’” she said. “It’s really nice.”
Stewart says contemporary culture is still struggling to define fluid gender and sexuality. She says she’ll be putting that spirit into her feature film directorial debut, an adaptation of the memoir of a bisexual swimmer-turned-artist titled The Chronology of Water.
“So much of that spirit is completely about finding new — finding a new language. And like really understanding that your word house, so to speak, is constructed by you,” she said.