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Known for her roles as a child actor in “The Cosby Show” and then as a teen in Disney Channel’s “That’s So Raven”, Raven-Symoné made headlines in 2013 when she came out as gay.
At the time, her decision to come out wasn’t an easy one.
“There were a lot of challenges,” she told E! News at the 9th Annual Better Brothers Los Angeles Truth Awards, where she was on hand to accept the 2023 Icon Award.
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“There was the crumbling of the wall that I had put up for so many years,” she shared.
“And I felt very vulnerable,” she added, “it was an interesting wound that was opened up in public.”
In a 2020 interview with People, she opened up about just how controlled her public image was when she was younger.
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“My whole life is kind of based on what the industry wants,” she explained. “Other people controlled my hair, my eyebrows, my clothing, my words, everything.”