24 Celebs Who Are On The Asexual/Aromantic Spectrum
According to The Trevor Project, people who identify as asexual "may have little interest in having sex, even though they desire emotionally intimate relationships." There are many identities along the asexual spectrum, including demisexual and Grey-A. Likewise, aromantic people "do not experience romantic attraction," and there are many identities along the aromantic spectrum.
Here are 24 celebrities who are on the aro/ace spectrum:
1.In 2018, Michaela Cole told Culture Trip, "I googled aromanticism, and I very much felt like, 'Oh, that's me.' Which means if you tell me to dress up nicely because we're going to go to a dinner with candles, it's not going to mean a lot to me. It's a waste of money, and I have ingredients at home. Things like weddings and the expense of these things – I would rather settle for the rest of my life with a person."
She continued, "I am OK being by myself. I like having intimate relationships, but I don't want to change people or want to be changed by anyone. Diamond rings don't make me happy. Flowers don't make me smile. I can't smell them. I don't have a sense of smell. I want to know who you are."
2.In 2022, Heartstopper author Alice Oseman, who's asexual and aromantic, told the Guardian that her novel Loveless, which features an aro/ace protagonist, is "not an autobiographical book, but it does draw on a lot of experiences."
They also said, "The world is obsessed with sex and romance. And if you don't have that, you feel like you haven't achieved something that's really important... We're never really going to see much cultural change in terms of awareness until a big celebrity comes out as being asexual. And there's nothing I can do about that."
3.In 2020, Twitch streamer/YouTuber Karl Jacobs tweeted, "Wanna clear something up!!! On Trainwreckstv Scuffed podcast the other day, I said I felt I am [close] to being asexual. Wanted to explain that when I say that, I mean like on the spectrum, I am close to it, but not 100% there."
4.In 2019, Cavetown tweeted, "They stand for asexual/aromantic! People who don't experience those attractions at all or very often. For me it's very rare, and I often struggle to relate to people who feel attraction, so I feel comfortable in defining myself as on the ace/aro spectrums."
5.In 2018, Younger actor Nico Tortorella, who's demisexual and polyamorous, told Pedestrian TV, "It takes a lot for me to fall in love with somebody and have sex with somebody. Like I need to be completely emotionally attached – and that can take a little bit."
They also said, "[The "ability to create space" in polyamorous relationships] is so much more than sexual space. It's intimate space, and I put love at the top of the food chain – sex is just a byproduct of love, and once you start breaking down relationships that way, the sexuality of a relationship becomes less important – to me, personally."
6.In 2020, NCIS actor Pauley Perrette tweeted, "Aces, it is actually me."
In 2018, she told CBS News, "Tried [a love life]. Not for me. Not at all."
She said she'd been "delighted" since figuring that out.
She said, "Probably the best decision I ever made in my life was the time that it took me to go like, 'Wait a minute. This is silly. I don't have to have a boyfriend, or a husband, or a girlfriend, or anything, you know?' I don't need any of that. Like, I do whatever I want. I do whatever I want. And I think that is rad!"
7.In a 2024 TikTok, Legacies actor Piper Curda said, "The big 'aha' moment for me was when I went through a really horrific breakup a few years back, and I was single for the first time in my adult life, like since I was 18. So I was alone for the first time in my adult life, and I had a lot of things to figure out – a lot of things to think about. And up to that point, I also hadn't really come to terms with my attraction to females. It was a very simultaneous 'coming to Jesus' moment — that's a funny way to put it — of realizing that I was both asexual and biromantic."
She continued, "I think one informed the other a lot, and vice versa."
Additionally, discussing their Legacies character in 2022, Piper tweeted, " As someone on the ace spectrum myself, I had a lot of fun thinking of Jen as asexual. Just desperate for a friend and unbelievably stoked that she found so many."
Watch Piper's entire video below:
Piper Curda / Via tiktok.com
8.Model/activist Yasmin Benoit, who's asexual and aromantic, came out in a 2017 YouTube video titled "Things Asexual Girls DON'T Want to Hear." Two years later, she told HuffPost, "I believe in being the change you want to see. I started modeling with the goal of providing representation for alternative Black women and showing that you don't need to be a white to be alternative. At the same time, I was consciously aware of the lack of representation for asexual people – especially asexual people of color. And I was doing nothing about it, even though the lack of visibility for asexual people led to my own alienation and the alienation of many others like myself."
In 2019, she created the hashtag #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike.
Then, in 2022, she told Glamour UK, "Until asexuality becomes part of public discourse and representation, we will continue to be misunderstood, told that there's something wrong with us, overlooked in education and legislation, and medicalized (and medicated). Women like me will continue to be dismissed as unlovable, ugly, frigid, and boring. This is especially true for Black women, who are so hypersexualized that to be a Black asexual woman seems entirely contradictory to people. But I live a perfectly happy and fulfilled life as a Black, asexual, aromantic woman. I don't need a partner to complete me – I'm complete just the way I am. That's why I use my platform to fight against asexuality stigma, dispel myths, and help empower the ace community."
9.In his 2010 book Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work, Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn wrote, "For many years, I described myself as asexual, and that's probably still closest to the truth."
He's also spoken openly about being gay.
In 2007, he told Metro Weekly, "I was in denial for a while — kept pushing it to the back of my consciousness. I was 22 when I had my first experience. It was the early '70s. But I've never had that moment when I've said, 'I'm out.' Actually, that isn't altogether true. I did with my sister. Can I be really blunt with you? I have never ever spoken to my mother about it. Does she know? I guess so. I've certainly never played any games with her, like pretending I'm dating a woman or anything of that sort. But through most of my adult life, she was always saying, 'Oh, I met the loveliest girl, you really should meet her.' And I'm like, 'Mother, please.' But I did come out to my sister in a very emotional session when I was 29. It was at the end of the breakup of a long-term relationship, and I was in such pain and agony, I needed to share it with somebody. She was incredible, absolutely incredible. And I'll never forget it. I remember what I was wearing, where we were, I remember the weather. I remember everything about that day."
10.In 2022, Star Trek: Discovery actor Mary Chieffo told Geek Girl Authority, "If we're getting into the weeds, I'd say I'm panromantic demisexual and proudly in a lesbian relationship."
11.In a 2022 YouTube video, Jaiden Dittfach — the content creator and animator known as Jaiden Animations — said, "I've come to realize that I'm aro/ace, which stands for aromantic/asexual."
Later in the video, she said, "It's been a very long journey discovering this about myself. Everything I'm saying has all been extremely subconscious and not understood or defined for many years. I even used to think I was bi or pan for the longest time because I would think to myself, 'Well, bi is being interested in both genders. I don't really care for either, but zero is equal to zero, so I guess I'm bi or pan.' I got math involved. If I knew what aromanticism was when I was growing up, things would have been a lot less complicated for me a lot sooner. I think it's mainly because people don't really talk about it or even know what it is or that it's real."
Watch Jaiden's entire video below:
12.In a 2019 YouTube video, content creator Evan Edinger (who first spoke about his demisexuality in a 2015 video) said, "Over the last year or two, I have fully come to realize, despite everything going on wishy-washy in my brain, I have realized this is who I am. I am demisexual. I have come to accept that. Nothing is going to fix me because I am not broken. I'm just a little different."
He continued, "For the longest time, the longest time, I truly thought if I found the right person, they would fix me. They would make me into a 'normal person' like them, and this whole curse would just be wiped away, and then everything would be sunshine and rainbows, and people would be like, 'Hey Evan, ha, remember that one time you thought you were that weird sexuality that totally doesn't exist?' ...But no in the end, I've found lovely people in my life, and I've experienced a lot of things, and, you know what? I am NOT fixable because this is who I am. I am demi."
You can watch Evan's entire video below:
13.In 2021, model/actor/designer Isis King told Metro Weekly, "Well, at first, I was like, 'Am I an alien? What is going on?' All my friends are just hooking up or meeting people. Being younger, first starting my transition, I would put myself out there, and maybe not in the best ways, trying to get approval of who I was with someone. So, I learned that just hooking up wasn't for me. I wouldn't have those urges to just hook up or to really have sex with anyone. Then, I learned a few years ago about being demisexual. You need a strong emotional connection to somebody to want to be intimate with them. That's when I just read up about it, and learned about people like that. I was like, 'Oh, it's a thing!'"
She continued, "Trans people, especially trans women, tend to be over-sexualized. I'm not really that person. I mean, I could dress the part like it's a red carpet, and in my head, I'm like, 'Ooh, I'm going to look sexy.' It's a character, but I'm not that person. I'm really pretty awkward. It's fun to play sexy, but I'm just not that person. I'm not a sexual person like that, I guess. I've realized through a lot of research, and through talking to other people who also identify as demisexual, or even being on the asexual spectrum, that I was normal. So many people feel like this, and it's okay. It just means that I don't want to just jump into bed with somebody. I want to get to know them. I want to see if we have a strong connection, and then from there, I guess we'll figure it out. But also, because I'm in LA trying to date, it also makes it easier to weed people out because most people don't want to wait or get to know you. It's just like, 'I want to hook up.' There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm not that person. If you don't want to get to know me and you just want to hook up, I'm sorry. So, it makes it really easy to wean people off, because sorry, it's not happening. Sorry."
14.In a 2020 YouTube video, Twitch streamer/content creator Sweet Anita said, "I didn't know I was a demisexual until quite late in my life. My early 20s was when I found out, and before then, it was kind of a bumpy ride discovering who I was and discovering what on earth was up with me because, in the beginning of my life, I did not feel conventional attraction to anybody at all."
She continued, "As I got a little bit older, I kind of, I didn't really know how to navigate the world or romance, but I did start feeling mild attraction to people. And I didn't know how to feel about it, but it came on suddenly with people that I was friends with. And after a certain amount of familiarity and connection and closeness, suddenly ping! 'Oh, what's this weird, tingly feeling whenever I'm near them? Why do I always think about them? Why do I want to be near them all the time?' Like, I was starting to feel attraction and love, but it was in a weird order, like, never with strangers, never with people just because I looked at them, never just because of the way they looked.
So I did have a couple of girlfriends, and I thought, 'Oh, I'm just gay. That was it; I'm cool.' I wouldn't say that demisexuality is specifically linked to homosexuality. I would say that, for me personally, since bodies don't matter, I'm attracted to both sexes. But there are plenty of straight demisexuals.
And I assumed I was gay for a little while. And then I liked a boy, and I was like, 'Oh, okay, what?' And it was a boy I'd known for quite a while, at least a year, so I'd developed a bond with him. And I didn't feel anything for him, and then all of a sudden, it was like everybody was blurry, and then he just came into focus. And suddenly I noticed his voice and his body and the way he moved and the way he talked and the things he said and just everything, and it was all attractive. And what this has meant as well is that there is a lot of body diversity. Like, I have dated people of all different body types."
Watch her entire video below:
15.In 2015, Speedy Ortiz singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis told Rookie Mag, "I started identifying as bisexual when I was 14, at Buck’s Rock. At home, I tried to start a GSA [Gay-Straight Alliance] at my public school and got called into the principal’s office for a talking-to about why that was inappropriate. It was nuts. Once I got a little older, and had a clearer understanding of the vocabulary and discourse surrounding sexuality, I started identifying as panromantic and demisexual."
"I was never really OUT about my sexuality, other than to my Buck’s Rock peeps, until I was like 20," she said.
Additionally, in 2021, she tweeted, "I’ve been vegan for 15 years and bisexual for 19 years, no wonder I have so many haters."
16.On a 2022 episode of her podcast Quem Pode, Pod, actor/model/presenter Giovanna Ewbank said that she's demisexual.
17.Appearing on the podcast Dyking Out in 2019, comedian/actor Janeane Garofalo said, "The reason I say I'm asexual is my libido has always been incredibly low. I never have been particularly driven by sex…I could take it or leave it."
18.In a 2009 interview with Jenny Stewart, Kim Deal (the original Pixies bassist/vocalist and The Breeders rhythm guitarist/vocalist) was asked if she had "a gay bone in [her] body." She answered, "You know what? I'm just so…asexual, I wish I had a gay bone."
19.During a 2015 concert, singer Ana Gabriel reportedly said that she's asexual "como los ángeles" ["like the angels"].
20.In 2022, singer/actor Markki Stroem told PUSH, "I have done many roles for the LGBTQIA++ community. I am an actor and identify as demisexual. Meaning I'm halfway between being sexual and asexual. I still feel love and have emotional attachments, but I have lost interest in mindless sex."
He continued, "Don't get me wrong, I have had sex many times. I've just lost interest unless I am attached to someone. This might be due to the pandemic. Now, I refuse to conform to a society that wants to put me in their judgemental boxes. I refuse to have my sexual identity invalidated just because people don't understand."
21.On a 2022 episode of the podcast Quem Pode, Pod, singer/dancer IZA said she's demisexual.
She said [translated via CNN Brasil], "It took me a while to see that it had nothing to do with the boy, it had to do with me. I have to admire it a lot."
22.In 2020, DC comics artist Gabriel Picolo tweeted, "Asexual, not broken."
23.During a 2023 appearance on the podcast Desculpa Alguma Coisa, model/TV host Luciana Gimenez said she identifies as demisexual.
She said that, after hearing someone else on a program say they were demisexual, she said, "Gente, essa sou eu [Guys, this is me]."
24.And finally, in 2019, Neighbours actor Mavournee Hazel told Sportsgirl, "I went to an all-girls school; everyone was obsessed with boys and dating. I felt like a part of my brain was missing, and it still feels like that. I identify as demisexual, which means you don't see people in a sexual way, and it's close to being asexual."
"The one time I think I was in love it was after two years because I knew the person so well, like my best friend. My definition of love is very different of other people's," she said.
Looking for more LGBTQ+ or Pride content? Then check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2024.
