25 Celebrities Who Are Asexual And Proud
The Trevor Project explains that asexual individuals, who may also be called an “ace” or “aces,” have little to no interest in engaging in sex. The vast majority of aces are romantic and desire emotionally affectionate relationships. An ace may also be aromantic, in which case they don't feel attraction to others.
There are also numerous ways an ace person may identify. Here are some notable people who have publicly expressed their asexuality, or who have been thought to be asexual by historians.
1. Tim Gunn
“I knew what I wasn’t: I wasn’t interested in boys, and I really wasn’t interested in girls,” Gunn wrote in his 2011 book, Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work. “For many years, I described myself as asexual, and I still think that’s closest to the truth.”
2. Yasmin Benoit
Model Yasmin Benoit has spoken openly about her asexuality, and wrote in an essay for Glamour Magazine UK, “I live a perfectly happy and fulfilled life as a Black asexual, aromantic woman. I don't need a partner to complete me – I'm complete just the way I am. That's why I use my platform to fight against asexuality stigma, dispel myths and help empower the ace community.”
3. Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë was known to be very reclusive and had no known romantic partnerships throughout her life. In Understanding Asexuality, author Anthony F. Bogaert detailed that Brontë may have been asexual, although the romantic content of her writings indicate she would not have been aromantic.
4. Janeane Garofalo
“The reason I say I’m asexual is my libido has always been incredibly low,” Garofalo said in a podcast interview. “I never have been particularly driven by sex... I could take it or leave it.”
5. Isaac Newton
Newton never married and was not known to have any romantic partnerships. While reflecting on Peter Ackroyd's biography, Newton, journalist Christopher Hitchens wrote that Newton "clearly hated women, may well have died a virgin, and was terrified of sex." Historians have subsequently proposed that he may have been asexual.
6. Paula Poundstone
In a 2014 interview with Pride Source, comedian Paula Poundstone discussed her asexual lifestyle and explained why sex isn’t mentioned in her comedy routines.
“I don’t talk about sex a lot because I don’t actually have sex,” Poundstone said. “It involves much more work than I’m willing to put out. The idea that I’d go to my room after everything else I go through in a day and that there’d be someone in my room that might expect something like that from me – I just can’t even.”
7. Morrissey
The Smiths lead vocalist has been thought of as an ace due to his celibate lifestyle and comments on his sexuality.
“Unfortunately, I am not homosexual,” Morrissey said in a 2013 statement released on his now-defunct fansite, True to You. “In technical fact, I am humasexual. I am attracted to humans. But, of course … not many.”
8. Sriti Jha
During the 2020 Kommune Indian SpokenFest, the actor performed a parody of the Backstreet Boy's "Everybody" in the middle of reciting a poem called “Confessions of an Asexual Romantic.”
“I am asexual / Yeah / I'm not the only one / I am everything I need you better recognize me now," Jha sang.
9. Mikey Neumann
“I am an asexual,” the YouTuber stated in an essay for the Mary Sue. “I have been for some time." In addition, Neumann has tweeted about a lack of ace representation in the past.
He went on to write in the essay, “Being an asexual is super weird a lot of the time because, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we live in a hell of a sexually charged entertainment landscape. We notice all of that and it can be overwhelming sometimes.”
10. Caitlyn Jenner
While speaking to Diane Sawyer in 2015 as she was transitioning to female, Jenner said that she was calling herself “asexual for now.”
11. Erica Mendez
The voice actor stated in a tweet from 2020, “My twitter is a safe space for all LGBTQIA+ people, but as an ace myself, this particularly resonates with me.”
12. Bradford Cox
"I live an asexual lifestyle,” the Deerhunter lead singer and guitarist said while discussing his sexuality with Out Magazine in 2019, before calling sexuality “really a waste of time." Cox also explained that, although he abides by this lifestyle, he chooses not to identify as anything other than "queer."
13. David Archuleta
The American Idol alum came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in an Instagram post while including asexuality as a part of his identity.
"I came out in 2014 as gay to my family. But then I had similar feelings for both genders so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also have learned I don’t have too much sexual desires and urges as most people 💀which works I guess because I have a commitment to save myself until marriage 🤣. Which people call asexual when they don’t experience sexual urges," Archuleta wrote.
14. Keri Hulme
“It is part of who I am: the major impact is that I am not — and never have been — interested in sex,” the novelist said of her asexuality in an interview with NZME. “I am not sick, I am not deficient; I may not be normal but I am thoroughly natural. And I don't want to be any different from the way I am.”
15. SpongeBob SquarePants
In a 2005 interview with People Magazine, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, Stephen Hillenburg, addressed the sexualities of the show's characters.
“I consider them to be almost asexual,” Hillenburg said. “We’re just trying to be funny and this has got nothing to do with the show.”
Since this interview, Nickelodeon has announced that SpongeBob is a member of the LGBTQ community.
16. David Jay
Jay is an asexual activist and founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network. In a speech from 2015, he explained to an audience what it means to be asexual.
"The important thing to understand about our community is that we have the same desire for connection as everyone else," Jay explained of aces. "We just don't have a desire to express that connection sexually. And there's a whole community of us out there."
17. Kim Deal
The singer-songwriter and member of groups the Pixies and the Breeders was asked in 2009 if she had “a gay bone in her body,” to which she responded by stating she is an ace.
“You know what? I’m just so...asexual,” Deal said. “I wish I had a gay bone.”
18. Edward Gorey
A 2018 article in the Atlantic touched upon the author’s sexuality, stating that Gorey explained he was asexual while speaking with Lisa Solod for an interview.
19. Nikola Tesla
In The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, author Marc Seifer wrote that Tesla had stated he had "never touched a woman" during his life, and further explained that he had "an aversion to sexual intimacy with women." He is speculated to have been asexual and aromantic.
20. Cavetown
"For me its very rare and i often struggle to relate to people who feel attraction so i feel comfortable in defining myself as on the ace/aro spectrums :)," The singer-songwriter said in a 2019 tweet.
21. John Frusciante
In an interview, the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist discussed his lack of interest in sex, which led to him being recognized as a member of the ace community.
“Lately, I just haven’t been having sex 'cause I just don’t enjoy it,” Frusciante said. “I just stopped enjoying sex at one point, so right now I just concentrate on writing music for [our next] album."
22. J.M. Barrie
Barrie wrote Peter Pan using inspiration from five young brothers, the Llewelyn Davies boys. In J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, authors Andrew Birkin and Sharon Goode quoted one of the boys, Nico, as saying of Barrie, "He was also the least interested in sex. He was a darling man. He was innocent; which is why he could write Peter Pan." Barrie and his wife never consummated their relationship, and they later divorced. He has subsequently been thought of as aromantic and asexual by historians.
23. Temple Grandin
The autism activist and scientist expressed her asexual way of life in a 2013 interview with the New York Times Magazine. During this talk, she was asked about sexual urges, to which she said, “Now I’m old enough to where that’s all gone, and it’s like, good riddance.”
