Last month, Kristen Stewart hosted what may have been the best episode of SNL this season, and in a memorable monologue, she addressed Donald Trump’s obsession with Twilight in general and with her in particular.
Stewart concluded by addressing the Donald directly, and informing the president that he’s barking up the wrong tree, as she’s “like, so gay.”
It was a proud moment for the LGBTQ community, as it wasn’t all that long ago that a celebrity informing a sitting president of her sexual orientation on live TV would have been the stuff of scandal.
While there’s much progress to be made, in 2017 such moments are widely applauded, a fact that activists and allies alike can take as one of the latest in the long line of victories that serve as signposts on the road to equality.
While Stewart has never hidden her sexual orientation from fans, she rarely discusses her personal life in the press.
However, it seems she’s willing to make an exception when the opportunity to send an important message in a poignant way arises.
Stewart addressed the issue of her love life in a recent interview with People magazine, discussing, among other things, why she never chose to talk about her post-Pattinson relationships in the past.
“I didn’t talk about my first relationships that went public because I wanted things that are mine to be mine,” Stewart told the magazine.
“I hated it that details of my life were being turned into a commodity and peddled around the world.”
Stewart says there was a time when she would have been content to keep her private life as private as possible for rest of her life.
However, the actress experienced a change of heart upon realizing how many young people she could make feel less alone simply by sharing her own story:
“Considering I had so many eyes on me, I suddenly realized [my private life] affects a greater number of people than just me,” Stewart said.
“It was an opportunity to surrender a bit of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves.”
Stewart says her breakup up with Robert Pattinson left her wary of the press, but in recent years, she began to feel that it’s her responsibility to use her platform for good:
“If it didn’t seem like a relevant topic, like something that needed help, I would have kept my life private forever,” she said.
“When I was dating Rob, the public was the enemy — and that is no way to live. It wasn’t this grand statement, ‘I was so confused! Now I’ve realized who I am!’ I have not been struggling.”
Post-Twilight, Stewart has remained one of the most sought-after and celebrated talents in Hollywood, and it seems clear that she has every intention of remaining a role model to young people living on the fringes of society.
And Donald Trump is just gonna have to deal with it…