Arts & Entertainment
Sam Smith comes out as non-binary
The British singer says he doesn’t identify as a man or a woman
Sam Smith opened up about identifying as non-binary and his struggles with body image in an interview with Jameela Jamil for the new Instagram series “I Weigh Interviews.”
“I’ve always had a bit of a war in my body and my mind. I do think like a woman in my head at times. I’ve sometimes sat there and questioned, do I want a sex change? It’s something I still think about, but I don’t think it is,” Smith told Jamil.
He added: “When I saw the words ‘non-binary’ and ‘gender-queer’ and I read into it and I heard these people speaking, I thought f*ck — that is me.”
Smith, who still uses male pronouns, continued on how he relates to the non-binary label.
“Non-binary/genderqueer is that you do not identify in a gender,” Smith says. “You are a mixture of all different things. You are your own special creation. That’s how I take it — I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between — it’s all on the spectrum.”
Smith also got candid about his long struggle with body image issues. He revealed that he opted for liposuction because he “carried extra estrogen” in his chest as a child.
“I had liposuction, I was 12 years old,” Smith says. “At the time I think I was very happy about it. It didn’t really change anything. I think I put the weight back on in two weeks because I hadn’t figured out my relationship with food, so it didn’t really change anything. But being 12 years old and having liposuction on your chest is quite a big deal.”
Recently, Smith touched on his body image issues in an Instagram post where he revealed he would often starve himself before photoshoots.
“It’s the basis of all my sadness,” Smith told Jamil. “Literally everything I’ve ever been sad about is my weight. I struggle with it every day.”
Smith promoted the interview on Twitter saying that “it completely changed my life.”
A few months ago, I sat down with @jameelajamil and spoke with her for her incredible @_iweigh movement. I know this sounds dramatic but this interview completely changed my life. Watch in full on my IGTV now (please be kind haha) xx pic.twitter.com/IMDLSUayso
— Sam Smith (@samsmith) March 15, 2019
Watch the full interview here.
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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