Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning has opened up on realising she was gay later in life.
The actor recalled coming out in 2022 aged 36, describing how she came to understand more about her journey and how she told her loved ones.
"I came out actually in November 2022 and that was a mega, mega thing for me," Gunning said on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast.
"I'm surrounded by gays, all my friends are gay and so it wasn't that I was repressing anything. It was just that I didn't think I could be, and I still can't articulate it in the best way," she continued.
"But yeah, I realised I was a big old gay, and I was like, 'That's what it's been. That's what it is.'"
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Gunning described the experience as "liberating" and shared a connection with a scene in Baby Reindeer.
"That was a massive moment where everything clicked and I made sense for myself then because for so long, I'd thought, and I'm a bigger woman, and I thought maybe it was to do with my size, that I felt a little bit almost alien, or I was tagging along," she said.
"But as soon as I realised, I was like, 'No, it's that.' That was the most liberating thing."
She continued: "And there's a really emotional thing actually in Baby Reindeer where Donny talks about sleeping for the first time at his parents' house [after opening up about his ordeal], and I told my family in Christmas that year, and I slept for 10 hours that night."
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Speaking about her relationship with Baby Reindeer creator and star Richard Gadd, Gunning said: "We've got a real special bond and [I] really care about him."
"The effect that especially episode four has had on people watching, it's just been amazing to be a part of and I'm so proud of him," Gunning continued.
"I think he was really honest and brave in how he told this story, and he's having people talk to him all the time about how they've opened up to family members for the first time and just think that's just incredible."
Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix.
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Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
