Shawn Mendes. Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Shawn Mendes knows that there’s intense curiosity about his private life — including his sexuality.
Since becoming a music superstar around 2013 at age 14, rumors have swirled about his sexual orientation. Mendes — whose celebrity exes include Camila Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter — declared previously that he was not gay. He later confessed that he felt the need to shut down the rumors by being public with his love life.
“In the back of my heart, I feel like I need to go be seen with someone — like a girl — in public, to prove to people that I’m not gay,” he told Rolling Stone in 2018. “Even though in my heart I know that it’s not a bad thing. There’s still a piece of me that thinks that. And I hate that side of me.”
The dialogue around the topic evolved over the years, and in October 2024 he publicly shared that he was trying to figure out his sexuality.
“The real truth about my life and my sexuality is, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone. I don’t really know sometimes and I know other times,” the singer said at a concert, per fan footage posted on social media at the time. “It feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that. I’m trying to be really brave and just allow myself to just be human and feel things. That’s all I wanna say about that for now.”
Keep scrolling to see everything Mendes has said about his sexuality through the years:
Addressing Speculation
Mendes addressed his sexuality for the first time in 2016.
“So I don’t usually do this and bring up problems, but I was on YouTube just watching some of my interviews, and I was going down the comments and noticed a lot of people were saying that I gave them a ‘gay vibe.’ First of all, I’m not gay,” he said in a series of videos. “Second of all, it shouldn’t make a difference if I was or if I wasn’t. The focus should be on the music and not my sexuality.”
The “Stitches” singer encouraged fans not to make assumptions about a person based on their mannerisms. He added that while he is attracted to girls, he didn’t care if people referred to him as gay — unless it was directed as an insult.
“I’m frustrated because in this day and age, people have the audacity to write online that I’m gay as if it were a bad thing. That’s all I really have to say about that,” Mendes shared. “I just wish those one percent of people would grow up. I love you guys.”
Not Understanding the Interest
Mendes shared that he didn’t get why so many people were concerned about the idea of his sexuality.
“I thought, ‘You f—ing guys are so lucky I’m not actually gay and terrified of coming out.’ That’s something that kills people,” he said to Rolling Stone in 2018. “That’s how sensitive it is. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? Who cares if I’m gay?”
Getting Frustrated
The “Treat You Better” musician opened up about the toll it took on him to deal with the rumors about his sexuality.
“Everyone’s been calling me gay since I was 15 years old. I’m not gay and I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ I had these problems with the way my voice sounded,” he said during an episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast in December 2020. “I’m like, ‘How do I sit?’ I’m always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that s—. I think a lot of guys go through that and, even worse than that, there are so many guys who are gay and in the closet and must be hearing s— like that and being like, ‘I’m terrified to come out.’”
Mendes shared that the speculation about him made him feel upset especially for the LGBTQIA+ people in his life who were struggling to come out of the closet.
“There were some people in my life that I was very, very close to who were gay and in the closet. And I felt this real anger for those people,” he continued. “It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, ‘I’m not gay but it’d be fine if I was gay — but also there’s nothing wrong with being gay but I’m not.’ You don’t really know how to respond to the situation.”
Putting it in Song
Mendes dropped a teaser of a new song titled “The Mountain” at an October 2024 concert and the lyrics weighed in on his personal life.
“Some days, I have a change of heart / You can say what you need to say / You can say I’m too young / You can say I’m too old / You can say I like girls or boys / Whatever fits your mold,” he sang to the crowd according to social media footage.
Questioning Himself
While on stage at an intimate concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, Mendes, 26 at the time, spoke to the crowd letting them know that he was “figuring” out his sexuality just like everyone else.
“I think it’s kind of silly because I think sexuality is a beautifully complex thing and it’s so hard to just put into boxes,” he said. “It always felt like such an intrusion on something very personal to me. Something I was figuring out in myself. Something I had yet to discover and still have yet to discover.”
