Amber Heard is one of the women who is quietly and conscientiously changing Hollywood.
Her personal life became the stuff of tabloids when she alleged her ex-husband Johnny Depp was violent towards her.
After a leaked video showed Depp shouting at the younger actress, Heard eventually withdrew her restraining order petition and gave the £7million she received in settlement from their divorce to ACLU.
Not letting domestic abuse allegations define her, she has gone on to star in the superhero franchise Justice League and upcoming Aquaman opposite Jason Momoa.
But even before her kick-ass action-hero role or boundary-busting openness about domestic violence, the Texan was breaking barriers surrounding female sexuality.
In a new interview with Allure, the 31 year-old explains how she refused to be 'in the closet' when it came to Hollywood, despite the lack of successful female actresses before her who are openly not heterosexual.
She told the magazine that her friends warned her of being open, saying, 'They pointed to no other working romantic lead, no other actress, that was out. I didn't come out. I was never in.'
She recalls being papped for the first time with her ex-girlfriend, Tasya van Ree, who she dated for four years: 'I happened to be dating a woman, and people started taking pictures of us walking to our car after dinner. I [was] holding her hand, and I realised that I have two options: I can let go of her hand and, when asked about it, I can say that my private life is my private life. Or I could not let go and own it.'
She continues, 'Everyone told me: 'You cannot do this.' I had played opposite Nicolas Cage [in one movie], and in another I was playing opposite Johnny. And everyone said, 'You're throwing it all away. You can't do this to your career.' And I said, 'I cannot do this any other way. Watch me.''
When actively defining her sexuality, she explains that she is not bi, nor any other definition, 'I don't identify as anything. I'm a person. I like who I like.'
The Rum Diaries actress doesn't believe in labels and told the magazine:
It's limiting, that LGBTQ thing. It served a function as an umbrella for marginalised people to whom rights were being denied, but it loses its efficacy because of the nuanced nature of humanity. As we become more educated and expand the facts of our nature, we keep adding letters. It was a great shield, but now we're stuck behind it. It's so important to resist labels. I don't care how many letters you add. At some point, it's going to spell 'WE ARE HUMAN.'
Keep doing your thing Heard.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
