Kristen Stewart celebrates young stars redefining sexuality

Kristen Stewart

LOS ANGELES—Kristen Stewart says she felt a “huge responsibility” to define her sexuality after finding fame in the “Twilight” movie franchise. But she’s glad today’s young stars don’t have to do so.

The 29-year-old actress said she was “so gay” in “Saturday Night Live” two years ago. But she sees a shift in culture that’s allowed young people in and outside Hollywood to accept fluidity in gender and sexuality.

“I felt this huge responsibility [that] if I wasn’t able to say one way or the other [something about it], then was I like forsaking a side?” said Stewart, who also had a long-term relationship with “Twilight” costar Robert Pattinson.

“The fact that you don’t have to now is much more truthful,” she added.

The actress stars alongside Laura Dern in “J.T. LeRoy,” a biopic about a young woman named Savannah Knoop whose sister-in-law, Laura Albert, created LeRoy as a literary persona.

Knoop pretended to be a man in public appearances as the celebrated author, and now identifies as nonbinary.

Sexuality issue

Stewart celebrates that decision along with statements from younger Hollywood stars like Sophie Turner, 23, who have refused to label their sexuality.

“If you were to have this conversation with someone in high school, they’d probably roll their eyes and go, ‘Why are you complicating everything so much?’ Just do what you want to do,’” she said.

Stewart said contemporary culture was still struggling to define gender fluidity and sexuality: “I feel like we don’t even have the words to describe the complexities of identity right now.”

Stewart said she would be putting that spirit into her feature film directorial debut, an adaptation of the memoir of a bisexual swimmer-turned-artist titled “The Chronology of Water.”

“So much of that spirit is completely about finding a new language. And understanding that your word house, so to speak, is constructed by you,” she said.

“And you can also have a million definitions of any word you want. Like they are open for interpretation,” she added. —AP