Jena Malone, known for the Hunger Games and Sucker Punch, leads the cast of Adopting Audrey in the titular role. The indie film centers on a woman who feels aimless in her life and tries out adult adoption in the hopes of finding a new family to belong to. However, what is bringing more attention is her declaration of her sexual identity.
Sep 19, 2022 5:31 PM ET
How She Chose To Take The Role
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She said in an interview about the importance of her character:
"I felt like it was a character I had never really seen before, it felt really timely, the questions that it was asking of the product of the end of grind culture, and the hardcore DIYers and out of our self-resilience mantra, what emerges? Because it's not the whole conversation, humans need far more communicative care than we're even allowed, in a lot of ways. So I liked that it was exploring those themes in a very subtle, simple way. I thought Mike wrote a really beautiful script, so I was just happy to be a part of it."
How She Came Out
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Malone came out as pansexual, sapiosexual, and polyamorous in an Instagram post on August 19, 2022. The announcement came from her personal introspection with identity while working on her latest project. She said:
“I’ve been learning a new way to tell it. Using words to guide me not define me. That my sexual identity has more to teach and to tell me. Finding words that feel more right to explore in my telling. Pansexuality. Sapiosexuality. Polyamory. A fuller spectrum of understanding that my story is demanding of me,” she writes. Malone also noted that she “was going to post this on pansexual awareness day, but I’m a mom, and I’m always a few months late for everything.”
Her Own Experiences
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Malone grew up with two mothers who split as lovers. One of her mothers went to marry her father and the other married her partner of 17 years. She also has a queer sibling and says she feels “very blessed to have such an accepting family.” In her Hollywood Reporter interview, she said her upcoming film, Adopting Audrey, is her self-suspected “best work yet.”
How She Feels Now
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About her experience, she told The Hollywood Reporter,
"It felt so nice. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. The sexual journey is so beautiful. I mean, all of the identity journeys are so cool. I feel like I’m a little bit late to the game in being able to have less shame. I’ve been loving the process of learning more about myself and others through different terms that open windows, those windows then turns into doors and then I arrive at a place to find all this cool stuff out there. It’s a part of humanity now to have all these ceremonies of exclamation around coming out and renouncing [an identity] and celebrating that space for yourself. It’s a really sweet, human experience. I love getting to learn more about myself no matter the age or my experience."