5 times celebrities backtracked after coming out of the closet

Coming out is a scary thing, especially if you're in the public eye. Furthermore, for many people, sexuality is fluid and comes with new discoveries as one ages. Still, these celebs have us scratching our heads a little at their comments about identifying as queer one day, and then later denying that they are queer.

Here are five times celebs have backtracked from coming out.

1. Nicola Porcella

Last year on the Mexican reality show La Casa de los Famosos, Peruvian actor and former pro footballer Nicola Porcella came out to two of his queer housemates, trans influencer Wendy Guevara and bisexual singer Apio Quijano. In a scene from the show, the three hold hands as Guevara and Quijano each said that they accept their queer identities, and Porcella replied, "Hi, I'm Nicola and I accept that I am pansexual."

2. Nicki Minaj

Early in her career, Nicki Minaj was known as a queer rapper, having identified as bisexual. However, in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, she said that she had only done that for attention. She then reiterated that she identifies as straight when she hopped on a remix of Doja Cat's song "Say So" in which she raps, "Tell Mike Jordan send me my retros, used to be bi, now I'm just hetero."

3. Tila Tequila

Tila Tequila first made a name for herself on MySpace but then shot to fame in the 2000s with her bisexual dating show on MTV, A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. However, she has since espoused racist and homophobic opinions and said that she was never queer and that she just did it all for fame.

4. Jessie J

Another pop star who identified as queer early in their career only to later take it back is singer Jessie J. In 2014, she told The Mirror that she was ready to "stop talking about completely" and wanted to find a husband. "For me, it was a phase," she said. "But I'm not saying bisexuality is a phase for everybody."

However, earlier this year, at an acoustic show in Los Angeles, she addressed that part of her life, dedicating a song to her ex.

"2012, I broke up with my beautiful girlfriend," she sang. "With the press in my face, called it a phase, babe I'm sorry."

5. Julie Cypher

Cypher is a filmmaker who was in a relationship with lesbian singer Melissa Etheridge for 12 years before they split up. In her 2001 memoir, The Truth Is… My Life in Love and Music, Etheridge wrote that in 1999, Cypher came out as straight to her in a therapy session.

"She said, 'You know, I’ve tried and I've tried these last couple of years, and I'm just not gay.'" Etheridge wrote. "Ten years and two children later seemed like a bizarre time to make that discovery."