*Wayne Brady has come out as “pansexual” in a new interview with People.
“I am pansexual,” the 51-year-old actor and TV host shared.
Brady and his ex-wife Mandie Taketa are parents to 20-year-old daughter Maile. In 2021, he announced on Instagram that Taketa and her boyfriend welcomed a baby boy via adoption, and Brady would help co-parent.
“To me, pan means being able to be attracted to anyone who identifies as gay, straight, bi, transsexual or non-binary. Being able to be attracted across the board. And, I think, at least for me for right now, that is the proper place,” Brady explained to People.
“I took pan to mean that not only can I be attracted to any of these people or types physically, but I could be attracted to the person that is there,” he continued.
Pansexuality is defined as “sexual or romantic attraction that is not limited to people of a particular gender identity or sexual orientation.”
According to GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, pansexuality falls under the “bisexuality umbrella.”
“Pan is more about all-inclusive, and bi tends to be more than one,” Ellis told USA Today. “The golden rule, honestly, is to call someone by how they identify.”
“Pansexuality is a newer and more expansive term, a bisexual person may have a preference more toward a particular gender and a pansexual person doesn’t usually take gender into account,” added Cathy Renna, director of communications at the National LGBTQ Task Force.
“The pansexual community is diverse and people of all backgrounds can and do identify as pansexual,” Brian Feinstein, Ph.D., licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, told SELF.
“A lot of people, especially young people, know they’re attracted to people of more than one gender—or all genders or regardless of gender identity—but initially they don’t have language for what they’re experiencing,” Feinstein added.
Meanwhile, Brady and his blended family are filming a reality series about set to premiere on Hulu next year, People reports.
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