Emma Corrin has opened up on the backlash they faced for coming out as non-binary, admitting they were ‘taken aback’ by ‘how much hate’ they received.
The 26-year-old actor is best known for their breakthrough role as Princess Diana on The Crown, for which they won a Golden Globe and were nominated for an Emmy.
Emma updated their pronouns publicly to ‘she/they’ and then ‘they/them’ in 2021 on Instagram and spoke about buying and wearing their first breast binder.
They join other high profile non-binary stars including Unholy chart-topper Sam Smith and The Flash actor Ezra Miller.
Reflecting on the backlash to their coming out on social media, Emma revealed: ‘Naively, maybe, it took me aback how much hate I got for that. It was quite a reality check. But for a lot of people, it did help.
‘Especially around conversation of gender and stuff, it does help a lot of people to see someone living as a non-binary person in the world. I know how much other people’s accounts helped me, that’s my motivation for keeping my social media at the moment.’
The My Policeman actor, who has recently been announced as part of the Deadpool 3 cast alongside Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, also revealed that it was their queer friends, including Dan Levy and Mae Martin, who had helped them navigate being a queer figure in the public eye on social media.
Emma praised them for being ‘really amazing in just helping and guiding me where needed’.
Discussing the lack of non-binary parts for actors in film and TV, the actor added to Vanity Fair: ‘There aren’t a lot of non-binary parts out there. We need to be supporting queer writers and developing projects and welcoming these narratives into the creative space.
‘But also, being non-binary for me is a very fluid space where it’s not a rejection of femininity or masculinity, it’s sort of an embrace of both.’
Emma also explained that they ‘still love’ all the female parts of themselves but found it interesting that they were not offered male parts because they would ‘equally be drawn to that’.
However, the performer was ‘hopeful’ that the industry’s perceptions of them and actors is ‘shifting’.
‘The beauty of acting is taking on a character that doesn’t necessarily have to be completely in tune with your own experience. It’s sort of a way to explore. But I would love to play non-binary, new parts, male parts. Anything, as long as it’s right,’ they added.
Emma has called for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science to add gender neutral categories to future ceremonies as they feel the current categories are not ‘inclusive enough’, in a move supported by Bond director Sir Sam Mendes – and one he calls ‘inevitable’.
Their future Deadpool co-star Jackman has also publicly backed the move, adding: ‘I don’t understand why it’s split into just two genders when we all know it’s a much bigger spectrum.’
Emma, who is soon to finish their run starring in Michael Grandage’s West End production of Orlando, previously stated that they don’t mind if people get their pronouns wrong ‘as long as they try’.
‘I don’t mind if people get my pronouns wrong, that’s fine,’ they told The Telegraph.
‘Just try, and I’ll correct you where necessary and gradually we take steps forward. It’s not going to happen overnight.’
Emma also said they were glad to be ‘dealing with his now and not 10 years ago’, given some of the progress that’s been made in recent years.
Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue is on newsstands February 28.
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