'True Blood' Star Anna Paquin Uses Surprising Medium to Reveal Sexual Orientation

True Blood' Star Anna Paquin Uses Surprising Medium to Reveal Sexual Orientation

By Mike Ryan | Thursday, April 1, 2010, 5:04 PM

Anna Paquin

Jordan Strauss/WireImageHot on the heels of Ricky Martin's announcement on his personal blog that he's gay, "True Blood" star Anna Paquin used an unusual medium of her own to announce that she is bisexual.

Alongside celebrities such as Elton John, Clay Aiken, and Wanda Sykes, Paquin declared her sexual orientation in a public service announcement for Cyndi Lauper's Give a Damn Campaign, which promotes equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Two videos were shot in Los Angeles on January 30 and were released April 1 at 9 a.m. EST.

Watch Paquin's video here:

What makes 27-year-old Paquin's spot particularly surprising is that, unlike some of the other openly gay celebrities involved in the campaign, the actor had never before discussed being bisexual. According to RadarOnline.com, even people at the shoot were surprised when Paquin made the revelation.

A second PSA features "Sex and the City" actor Cynthia Nixon (who came out in 2006), Jason Mraz, Kim Kardashian, and Sharon and Kelly Osbourne.

 

Paquin follows an interesting trend of celebrities forgoing the traditional "coming out" People magazine interview -- à la Clay Aiken and Lance Bass -- and instead controlling the message themselves. Ricky Martin buried his announcement at the bottom of an otherwise banal blog post, and now Paquin is using her announcement to drive attention to a cause she supports. So much attention, in fact, that servers at wegiveadamn.org crashed shortly after the news broke of Paquin's statement.

Paquin -- who at age 11 became the second-youngest Oscar winner in history when she won for best supporting actress for "The Piano" -- has been notoriously shy about discussing her private life and has never before discussed her sexuality. In 2007, she was romantically linked with actor Kieran Culkin. In August 2009, she and "True Blood" costar Stephen Moyer announced their engagement.

The Give a Damn campaign is part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund (named after her popular 1986 song and album). Lauper is currently promoting the cause during her turn on the Donald Trump-judged show "Celebrity Apprentice."

Talk About It: What did you think of the videos?