Kristen Stewart has now explained why she decided to come out in her opening monologue during the February 4, 2017 episode of Saturday Night Live — literally nine years ago — prompting her iconic line delivery of "I'm so gay, dude." At the time, K-Stew's coming out felt like an act of defiance not only against Hollywood snobs who dismissed her talents and tried to commodify her love life, but also as a way to inspire people to stand up for themselves during Donald Trump's first term as U.S. President.
"It was less about sharing the details of my relationship and more so acknowledging that there are people that don't get full access to being alive because they're hiding," Stewart told People in an interview to promote her new feature film as a director, writer, and producer, The Chronology of Water. "I've experienced perspectives [and] I've had conversations with people I've known, loved, and trusted, and still do, who thought, 'Your career would go better if you didn't go outside holding your girlfriend's hand.'"
That didn't sit well with Stewart. "I was like, 'So you want me to live a partial life? And you want me to uphold, perpetuate and sustain a system that excludes people?'" she pondered. "And I just can't do that."
For context, this moment took place on February 4, 2017, making it the second-ever SNL episode to follow Trump's inauguration in January 2017. During her monologue, Stewart brought up how the then-new president had shared 11 tweets (now X posts) about her over the years — with a primary focus on her relationship with Robert Pattinson and the Twilight film franchise.
Vanessa Bayer and Kristen Stewart in the Super Bowl-themed 'Totino's' sketch on Saturday Night Live.
NBC
In a different interview with ABC News, Stewart acknowledged that it was "really obvious what's going down" when people started speculating that she was dating a woman — noting that she hesitated to "commodify those details" but felt they were too open of a secret nonetheless.
"I didn't want to be part of a comic book, but what I didn't want to do was hide from the world we live in. I want to define it. I want to make it a more open and accepting place," Stewart explained. "I was already holding my girlfriend's hand in public."
Aidy Bryant, Kristen Stewart, and Kate McKinnon in the opening monologue during the February 4, 2017 episode of Saturday Night Live.
NBC
If you need to refresh your memory about the circumstances that led Stewart to come out — and how she did it — we're here to help.
"I'm here to promote my movie Twilight, which this week has been on iTunes for eight years. Check it out!" Stewart's SNL monologue from 2017 started. "I'm a little nervous to be hosting because I know the President's probably watching, and I don't think he likes me that much. Four years ago, I was dating this guy named Rob — Robert! — and we broke up, and then we got back together. For some reason, it made Donald Trump go insane."
Stewart added, "Here's what he actually tweeted, and this is real: 'Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog and will do it again. Just watch. He can do so much better.' Now, I know what you're thinking, right? That's so crazy. The President tweeted about you once. [But] no, no. The President tweeted about me 11 times."
"He [Trump] also tweeted this: 'Miss Universe 2012 Pageant will be airing live on NBC and Telemundo December 19th. Open invitation stands for Robert Pattinson,'" K-Stew added. "That's crazy, right? The President is not a huge fan of me. But that is so OK. And, Donald, if you didn't like me then, you're really probably not going to like me now… Because I'm hosting SNL and I'm like, so gay, dude."
One of the best and most iconic coming-out stories of all time, if you ask us!
Watch Kristen Stewart's full Saturday Night Live opening monologue from 2017 in the video above.
