Knives Out 2 Star Janelle Monáe Comes Out as Nonbinary

Janelle Monáe is an actor and musician best known for appearing in the Oscar-winning film Moonlight as well as Hidden Figures. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations throughout her career, and will soon be seen in Rian Johnson's highly-anticipated Kives Out 2. This week, Monáe appeared on Jada Pinkett-Smith's Red Table Talk (via Variety) where she confirmed she is non-binary. A representative for Monáe later told Rolling Stone that the artist still uses she/her pronouns. 

"I'm nonbinary, so I just don't see myself as a woman, solely," Monáe told Red Table Talk. "I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the 'he' or the 'she.' If I am from God, I am everything. I am everything, but I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything beyond the binary."

When Willow Smith asked Monáe about speaking her truth, she replied, "Somebody said, 'If you don't work out the things that you need to work out first before you share with the world, then you'll be working it out with the world.' That's what I didn't want to do. So I thought I needed to have all my answers correct, I don't want to say the wrong thing." Monáe, who is also pansexual, added that she sees people's energy over their gender. "I don't see how you identify," she said. "And I feel like that opens you up to fall in love with whoever, with any beautiful spirit." 

Back in 2020, Monáe sparked speclation about being non-binary when she tweeted a Steven Universe meme that read, "I'm not a woman, I'm not a man, I'm an experience." 

"I said, 'F*ck yes! That's me...' I'm exploring, you know?," Monáe previously told Variety. "I'm so open to what the universe is teaching me, and teaching all of us about gender. I definitely don't live my life in a binary way. I've always pushed, as you can see from the way that I dress to the things that I've said since the beginning of my career. I have fought against gender norms and what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man."

She told the outlet in another interview, "I've always tried to get rid of all of those things – any labels – and work on my journey, wherever that may be. I do feel like I am an experience, I am on self-discovery, and I just want to continue to show love to everyone who continues to live outside of the binary."

Look for Knives Out 2 in theaters and on Netflix later this year.