1. Sheryl Swoopes
Basketball legend Sheryl Swoopes separated from her husband, Eric Jackson, in 1999. In 2005, she publicly got here out as homosexual whereas in a long-term relationship with former basketball participant and coach Alisa “Scottie” Scott.
Throughout an interview with OutSports that 12 months, Swoopes mentioned she felt “free” after popping out.
“I used to be telling my companion the opposite day, once I have a look at TV, I see Rosie and everybody is aware of, and Rosie is Rosie, and it’s not a problem anymore, ” she defined. “And I have a look at Ellen Degeneres and her companion, and see Ellen internet hosting the Emmys, and so they’re on the purple carpet, and it’s like, ‘Oh, there’s Ellen and her companion.’ It’s not like, ‘Oh, there’s Ellen, she’s homosexual….’ I see that and I need to do this. I need to have the ability to go to the ESPYs with my companion and stroll down the purple carpet and have folks say, ‘Oh, there’s Sheryl and her companion,’ and be okay with it, as a substitute of me having to fake. I’ve taken buddies and brothers to completely different occasions as a result of I couldn’t take my companion with me. These varieties of issues are so vital to me.”
Sadly, the couple later separated in 2011.
Years later, Swoopes’ journey took one other flip. She grew to become engaged to, and married, Chris Unclesho in July 2017, exhibiting that love doesn’t all the time comply with a straight line.
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2. Porsha Williams
Porsha Williams finalized her divorce from Simon Guobadia in June 2025 after marrying him in November 2022. The cut up adopted a really public and generally contentious separation that started when she filed in February 2024.
Only a few months after her divorce was finalized, she publicly launched her girlfriend, Patrice “Sway” McKinney, in an affectionate Instagram birthday submit — marking her first introduced romantic relationship since her cut up.
In an unique Dec. 11 interview with PEOPLE, the Actual Housewives of Atlanta star defined why she selected to go public. The mom of 1 mentioned she “simply needed to proceed to stay” in her “reality.”
She added, “I’ve been in actuality TV for 10-plus years, okay. However sure, this was undoubtedly completely different for apparent causes,” she mentioned from the purple carpet at A Yr in Time in New York Metropolis, noting that that is her first public relationship with a lady.
Reflecting on her choice, Porsha defined that she didn’t need to “disguise” any a part of her life.
“I felt if I did disguise it and it needed to be caught someplace, it simply wouldn’t really feel genuine,” she continued. “I need to stay in my reality, and so in doing that, I’ve discovered somebody who I actually get pleasure from attending to know, and it’s been nice.”
When discussing what drew her to Sway, she defined:
“I feel the most effective factor is while you discover somebody that you may see your self in, and also you guys match, and all the pieces is snug, it’s heat.”
She added, “You undoubtedly need to be with somebody heat who you’ll be able to get pleasure from — and household. So I’m very blessed.”
3. Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo married fellow artist Diego Rivera on August 21, 1929. She was 22; he was 42. Her mother and father famously described their union as a wedding between “an elephant and a dove,” referencing their putting bodily variations.
Supply: Getty
Their relationship was passionate, artistic, and tumultuous. After a decade of mutual infidelities and intense arguments, they divorced in November 1939 — solely to remarry on December 8, 1940, in San Francisco.
Although usually remembered for her marriage, Kahlo was overtly bisexual, as famous by YouTuber Jessica Kellgren-Fozard. She had well-documented affairs with each women and men, together with singer Chavela Vargas, entertainer Josephine Baker, and artist Jacqueline Lamba.
Kahlo lived boldly and unapologetically, refusing to restrict her love — or her artwork — to expectations.
4. Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres
The late Anne Heche was in a groundbreaking, high-profile relationship with Ellen DeGeneres from 1997 to 2000. On the time, they have been thought-about certainly one of Hollywood’s first “homosexual supercouples.”
Popping out within the public eye wasn’t simple. In line with Web page Six, Heche shared on Season 29 of Dancing With the Stars that assembly DeGeneres at a Vainness Truthful social gathering in 1997 modified her life “ceaselessly.”
When the couple deliberate to attend the premiere of her movie Volcano in 1997, Heche was allegedly warned her job could be in jeopardy if she went public. She introduced DeGeneres anyway — and the pair have been reportedly “ushered out by safety earlier than the film even ended.” Heche was allegedly instructed she was not allowed to attend her “personal after-party” as her administration crew feared she could be pictured with Ellen.
Regardless of the backlash, their romance lasted three-and-a-half years. In August 2000, they introduced what they described in a joint assertion to PEOPLE as an “amicable” cut up.
Following her relationship with DeGeneres, Heche dated and married males, together with Coleman Laffoon. In her posthumous memoir, Name Me Anne (2023), she mirrored on her identification, writing: “Homosexual didn’t really feel proper, and neither did straight.” She usually described her attraction as being to a “particular person as a substitute of their gender” and as soon as joked that “alien” may be the most effective match for her sexuality.
5. Julie Cypher and Melissa Etheridge
Director and LGBTQ+ advocate Julie Cypher divorced actor Lou Diamond Phillips in 1990 to be with singer Melissa Etheridge.
Their relationship grew to become certainly one of Hollywood’s first high-profile same-sex partnerships within the Nineteen Nineties. Collectively for 12 years, they welcomed two kids by way of synthetic insemination with sperm donor David Crosby earlier than parting methods in 2000.
In a joint assertion launched by Etheridge’s administration firm, they mentioned:
“With the utmost love and respect for each other, we now have determined to separate. As dedicated mother and father, our high precedence continues to be what’s in the most effective curiosity of our kids. Although components of our lives will change, our household will all the time stay intact.”
Cypher later remarried in 2004 to actor Matthew Hale.
6. Wanda and Alex Sykes
Wanda Sykes was married to report producer David Corridor from 1991 till their divorce in 1998.
In 2008, she publicly got here out as homosexual and married Alex Niedbalski the identical 12 months. The couple now shares twin kids collectively.
7. Meredith Baxter
Greatest identified for enjoying Elyse Keaton on Household Ties, Meredith Baxter was married thrice earlier than popping out as homosexual in 2009.
She was first married to Robert Lewis Bush (1966–1971), then to David Birney (1974–1989), and later to Michael Blodgett (1995–2000).
After publicly popping out, she married Nancy Locke in 2013, stepping confidently into a brand new chapter of her life.
8. Portia de Rossi and Ellen Degeneres
Portia de Rossi was married to Mel Metcalfe, an Academy Award-nominated sound engineer, from 1996 to 1999.
She later publicly got here out as homosexual and, in 2008, married Ellen DeGeneres, solidifying certainly one of Hollywood’s most acknowledged same-sex marriages.
9. Alice Walker
Alice Walker, creator of The Coloration Purple, was married to civil rights lawyer Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal from 1967 to 1976. They married at a time when interracial marriage was nonetheless unlawful in components of america and had one daughter collectively, Rebecca Walker.
After their divorce, Walker had relationships with each women and men, together with a largely non-public romance within the mid-Nineteen Nineties with singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman.
In a 2022 interview with Gayle King, Walker revealed it was Chapman’s voice that made her fall in love. She later wrote about their temporary relationship in her memoir Gathering Blossoms Beneath Hearth: The Journals of Alice Walker.
“It was her voice. You realize there are some voices in our tradition that may carry the entire tradition and actually make an emotional sense of it and liberate you right into a deep love,” she gushed.
Sadly, Walker later revealed that the 2 now not communicate.
Love doesn’t all the time comply with the trail folks count on, however for these girls, selecting authenticity over appearances modified all the pieces.
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