Kristen Stewart has said that Twilight is “such a gay movie” when she looks at it in hindsight.
The actor, who identifies as queer, has gone on to star in more explicitly LGBTQ+ films in recent years, from the holiday film Happiest Season to the romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding.
But when she looks back at earlier projects that she made before she came out to the world, Stewart can’t deny that there are some pretty obvious gay undertones.
The most obvious example, she says, is the Twilight Saga – the five-part vampire romance that shot Stewart and her co-stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner to global stardom.
“I can only see it now,” she told Variety in a new cover interview.
“I don’t think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating. It’s such a gay movie.”
She continued: “I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor and Rob and me, and it’s so hidden and not OK. I mean, a Mormon woman wrote this book. It’s all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you. That’s a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love.”
Stewart came out to the world as bisexual in 2017 when she hosted Saturday Night Live – and managed to call out Donald Trump in the process, too. It was nothing short of iconic.
In her opening monologue, Stewart had been discussing the soon-to-be president’s bizarre obsession with her and her former relationship with Robert Pattinson, which he would frequently tweet about.
Turning to the camera and addressing him directly, Stewart had said: “Donald, if you didn’t like me then, you’re really probably not going to like me now, because I’m hosting SNL - and I’m, like, so gay, dude.”
The moment sparked rapturous applause from the studio audience and made headlines worldwide – though Stewart admits she was a little bit surprised that her coming out made such big waves.
“It wasn’t even like I was hiding,” she told the magazine. “I was so openly out with my girlfriend for years at that point. I’m like, ‘I’m a pretty knowable person.’”
Although Stewart was surprised that the public hadn’t put two and two together and worked out that she was gay, it almost came as a relief for the actor, who had previously dealt with uncomfortable and intrusive comments about her sexual identity.
“For so long, I was like, ‘Why are you trying to skewer me? Why are you trying to ruin my life? I’m a kid, and I don’t really know myself well enough yet,’” she recalled.
“The idea of people going, ‘I knew that you were a little queer kid forever.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah? Well, you should honestly have seen me f*** my first boyfriend.’”
Today, Stewart is out and proud, and has become a queer role model for her LGBTQ+ fans who are inspired by her to come out as confidently as she did.
“Every single woman that I’ve ever met in my whole life who ever kissed a girl in college is like, ‘Yeah, I mean, me too’,” she laughed.
“I’m constantly joking with my girlfriend. I’ll be sitting there and be like: ‘She’s gay too. Everyone’s gay.’”
Stewart added that coming out to the public has benefitted her just as much as her fans, allowing her to join the wider LGBTQ+ community and embrace her authentic self.
“I was like, ‘I would like to be on that team because we need each other,’” she said.
“I didn’t want to be left out anymore. It was this whole world that I didn’t realise I could explore.”
