Shannon Purser is Ethel Muggs in Riverdale (Image: Twitter)
Stranger Things’ and Riverdale star, Shannon Purser, wants her coming out as bisexual to help young people.
Purser who played the much beloved Barb in the sci-fi hit Stranger Things, came out last year on Twitter. She had been embroiled in argument with Riverdale fans about queerbaiting when she revealed her sexuality.
‘I don’t normally do this, but I figure now is just as good a time as any to get personal,’ she said at the time.
‘I’ve only just recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends. It’s something I am still processing and trying to understand and I don’t like talking about it too much.’
Purser revealed since she came out that a lot of young people are opening up to her about their sexuality. They’ve told her that her coming out has helped them be brave to come out themselves.
‘That’s what matters most to me. That’s the best compliment I’ve ever received,’ Purser told People.
It shouldn’t matter what your sexuality is
On a promotional tour for her new Netflix film, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, the 21-year-old actor said she wants to be a good role model.
‘I would love for us to get to a point in society where it doesn’t really matter what your sexuality is, but right now there is a lot of turmoil around that issue, a lot of controversy where there shouldn’t be,’
Purser said she does not consider herself ‘the perfect role model’ but she wants to ‘try to encourage young people and be somebody that they can look up to’.
‘I just always think about what would I have needed as a kid, what would have meant a lot to me?’ she said.
‘If somebody can see me and feel less alone and more understood, than that’s it.’
