Actress Chyler Leigh has spoken about coming to terms with her own sexuality after her lesbian character in the CW series Supergirl had come out in the TV show.
Leigh made the revelation in an essay posted to Creating Change, an LGBTQ organization she co-founded. She is presently married to fellow actor Nathan West and they have three children.
Chyler Leigh’s revelatory essay
Leigh documented her own coming out journey after her character, Alex Danvers– Kara Danvers’s lesbian sister– had come out in the series.
“When I was told that my character was to come out in season 2, a flurry of thoughts and emotions flew through and around me because of the responsibility I personally felt to authentically represent Alex’s journey,” she wrote.
“What I didn’t realize was how the scene where she finally confessed her truth would leap off the pages of the script and genuinely become a variation of my own,” she explained.
She added: “My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest each take we filmed, every time presenting another opportunity to get those honest words out of my mouth.”
“Though they don’t exactly match my personal dialogue, the heart behind it surely did,” she declared.
Chyler Leigh’s journey of self
Born 10 April 1982 in in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chyler Leigh Potts was raised by her family in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
While in eighth grade, she began modelling and acting in local TV commercials and a syndicates teen news show, Hall Pass. She moved to LA with her mother to develop her acting career in 1999.
At the age of 16, she met her future husband, West, who was 20 years old, while they were both attending auditions for an unsuccessful pilot. She eventually moved in with West.
While they initially suffered a drug problem, they cleaned up after attending a Christian church service in 2001 and by 2002, they got married in Alaska.
Leigh’s notable career points include playing Janey Briggs in the comedy film Not Another Teen Movie in 2001 and Lexie Grey in the ABC medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy from 2007 to 2012.
She then went on to play Alex in the DC Comics superhero series Supergirl from 2015 to the present.
Chyler Leigh and Alex Danvers
Leigh admitted that while Danvers’ coming out had been lauded by fans, the cast, and mainstream media, there are some who didn’t like it– especially her friends.
Leigh said some of her “dear friends” wouldn’t watch the series anymore because “Alex’s journey took from their less than acceptable beliefs.”
“Soon after, they began to distance themselves and eventually my family and I were outcast, marking the loss of many folks we loved,” she said.
“However, after the initial sting, I don’t hold a grudge towards the negative response,” she said.
“As I said, we all have had a hard time in one way or another with acceptance (whatever the subject may be) whether towards ourselves or others,” she added.
She concluded that it’s been a “long and lonely road” for her and her husband. However, she said that “throughout our journey we’ve learned to be proud of who we are, no matter the cost.”