You oughta know: Alanis Morissette has come out as pansexual.
The "Hand in My Pocket" singer, 52, opened up about how she identifies in an episode of the "Handsome" podcast
released Nov. 3. When cohost Fortune Feimster jokingly asked if the singer's bad experiences with the men who inspired her songs made her "want to be a lesbian at any point," Morissette noted, "I'm pansexual, so, you know, I get everything."A person who identifies as pansexual is attracted to people regardless of their gender identity.
Cohost Tig Notaro was surprised by Morissette's revelation, asking, "You're not really pansexual, are you?" But the singer clarified, "I am."
This was the first time Morissette has publicly shared that she identifies as pansexual, though she said
on "The Howard Stern Show" in 2008 that she has been intimate with women in the past. "I think it's a rite of passage to experiment with your sexuality at some point," Morissette said at the time, adding that she is "pretty heterosexual."
Morissette has also acknowledged that many of her fans identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Speaking with The Advocate in 2008, she said she has felt "love from the gay community since I was really young because all my friends were gay."
"My first manager was gay, and I used to go to nightclubs with him in New York when I was 14," she told the outlet. "There's a passion, a presence, and a curiosity with a lot of gay people that I meet, and that aliveness is such a special quality to me."
On the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in September, Morissette recalled pitching the idea of having her "Sex and the City" character kiss Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, on the HBO show.
"I reached out to them, and I said, 'Might it be a nice time for Carrie to experience a lesbian moment?'" Morissette said. "And they said, 'Why, yes, we were thinking the same thing.'"
Morissette told "Call Her Daddy" host Alex Cooper that being part of this moment of LGBTQ+ representation was meaningful. "Anything that opens up and pulls us out of a locked binary is a loving act, I think," she said.
Since 2010, Morissette has been married to rapper Souleye, whose real name is Mario Treadway. They share three children. The singer was previously engaged to Ryan Reynolds. Her smash hit "You Oughta Know" was inspired by a past relationship with "Full House" star Dave Coulier.
Morissette is the latest star to share that she identifies as pansexual. Gillian Anderson, 58, revealed that she is pansexual in an interview with The Australian in September. "In my younger years, I was in relationships with women," said the "X-Files" star, who noted she is currently in a relationship with a man.
"I do hear of a lot of women around our age who are rediscovering their sensuality and their desire for sex," she told the outlet.
Other celebrities who identify as pansexual include Miley Cyrus, JoJo Siwa and Wayne Brady. At the GLAAD Media Awards in 2024, Brady told People magazine the "biggest misconception" about those who identify as pansexual is the suggestion "that you're an indecisive bisexual."
"What the definition basically boils down to is, regardless of gender, regardless," Brady told People. "So that means that I am happily free to fall in love with anybody here. If you're gay, if you're straight, if you're non-binary, trans, I don't care. It's the person, which in my mind is the ultimate in acceptance and loving."
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis previously told USA TODAY that although pansexuality falls under the "bisexuality umbrella," "Pan is more about all-inclusive, and bi tends to be more than one. The golden rule, honestly, is to call someone by how they identify."
Contributing: Anthony Robledo and David Oliver, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alanis Morissette comes out as pansexual – 'I get everything'
