Actress Emma Corrin believes Princess Diana was 'so queer' in 'many ways' as they explained why some many LBGTQ+ actors are drawn to her.
The English star, who rose to fame after accepting the role of the late Princess of Wales in the fourth season of The Crown, has spoken of being inspired by the royal.
Diana’s legacy as a humanitarian and her allyship to the LGBTQ+ community during the HIV and AIDS epidemic is still being felt, 25 years after her death in Paris.
Emma said they feel “more comfortable” in themselves than they have in “a long time” since quietly coming out as non-binary in 2021.
Changing their pronouns to she/they last year, the Netflix favourite has spoken about Diana and the impact she had on so many people.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Lady Chatterley’s Lover actor said: “In many ways Diana was so queer; she was the definite ‘other’ within the family and always embraced ‘outsiders’."
Talking about the moment they discovered they would play the Princess, Emma said: "I felt so many things at once.
"An excitement, a fear for the role and fear for how my life would change. But it was so exhilarating.”
Emma also said they feel “very, very lucky” that parents that had been supportive of the big decision last year.
On their identity as non-binary, they say while people are generally good at respecting their pronouns, they understand how tricky it can be.
Emma said: “Pronouns are a strange thing in themselves. It’s a weird little bit of language that comes to mean so much, and really struggles to reflect anyone’s true feeling of self.”
Last year, Emma shared some new images in which they are wearing a chest binder.
Captioning the series of black and white photographs, the star wrote: "some time before I bought my first binder, messing around with @sirdavidsimon, we used boxing wrap, thanks for capturing this with me, very intimate, very new, very cool. It’s all a journey right."
"Lots of twists and turns and change and that’s ok! Embrace it," they added at the end, before revealing they purchase their binders from gc2b, a LGBTQ owned company.
Chest binding is when someone will compress their breast tissue in order to give the appearance of a flat chest. It is common practise amongst trans-men and non-binary people who don't want their chest to look feminine.
