How Tan France, Demi Lovato and other stars celebrated #NationalComingOutDay

“Queer Eye” stylist Tan France, singer-songwriter Demi Lovato and more of Hollywood’s LGBTQ community shared their personal journeys this weekend as part of #NationalComingOutDay.

On Sunday, France and Lovato exchanged coming-out stories while hosting Facebook Watch’s “Coming Out 2020” special, which also featured hip-hop artist Big Freedia, actor Anthony Rapp, celebrity stylist Law Roach, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Trixie Mattel, actress Ruby Rose, YouTuber Tyler Oakley and “Pose” star Angelica Ross.

“I was young and should not have been watching ‘Cruel Intentions,’ but I did, and it was that scene where they made out on the park lawn, and I was just like, ‘Oh, wait a minute,’” Lovato, who is sexually fluid, said of discovering her sexuality. “And then when I was, like, 17, I did get down with that, and that’s when I knew.”

France, who is gay, detailed a “more specific” a-ha moment involving a 17 Magazine poster of a shirtless Keanu Reeves in “Point Break” hanging in his sister’s closet.

“It was the first time I saw Keanu Reeves,” France said. “[My sister] was saying, ‘I want to marry him one day,’ and I said, ‘No, I’m gonna marry him. And as soon as the words came out of our mouths, I was like, ‘Oh my God, boys. I think I like boys.’”

Lovato recalled coming out in “three phases”: first, to her friends, then to her parents and, eventually, to the world. The “Cool for the Summer” artist first said publicly that she was interested in men and women in her 2017 YouTube documentary, “Simply Complicated.”

“There were times when I wrote songs about girls that my fans thought I wrote about guys,” Lovato told France. “I’m surprised that some of them didn’t figure out that some of the songs were for certain people. I was sharing it with the world, and yet I wasn’t being completely obvious with what I was talking about. Music was my safe space.”

Books

‘Queer Eye’s’ Tan France faced racism as a kid. Then he brushed off bullies and discovered self-love

Tan France discusses his book, “Naturally Tan,” which addresses the racism he faced. “Queer Eye” Season 4 begins streaming Friday.

July 18, 2019

Among the many other celebrities who recognized #NationalComingOutDay were Indya Moore, Auli’i Cravalho, Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris, Hayley Kiyoko, Matt Bomer, Niecy Nash and Billy Porter, who made Emmys history last year as the first openly gay Black man to win the award for lead actor in a drama for his work on “Pose.”

“Today I stand with you no matter what your decision is,” Porter wrote Sunday on Instagram. “We are all born with the right to be ourselves and protect our humanity. We have feelings that deserve respect and we need to know we belong like everyone else. I’m here to tell you that not only do you belong but you are loved and supported! I see you and I applaud you for just being YOU!”

See how other stars celebrated #NationalComingOutDay below.