Emma Corrin Thinks Transphobic Reactions to Queerness Is Out of 'Fear'

The Crown alum Emma Corrin is proudly queer and doesn’t understand the amount of “vitriol” spurned from their coming out journey.

“The vitriol is worse than I anticipated,” Corrin, 28, who uses they/them pronouns and identifies as nonbinary, told Harper’s Bazaar in an interview published on Wednesday, May 22. “Even though we like to think we’re in a progressive society, a lot of what we’re seeing is increasingly a step back.”

The actor publicly came out as a member of the LBGTQ+ community in April 2021, captioning an Instagram selfie, “Ur fave queer bride.” Three months later, Corrin changed their pronouns on the social media site and uploaded photos wearing a chest binder.

Corrin initially didn’t think their identity would spark outrage and was ultimately surprised that they were met with spiteful Instagram comments.

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“People follow me because they’ve watched something I’m in. They think I’m one kind of person, and then they’ll see who I actually am and how I present,” Corrin told the outlet. “I will never understand why. Who are you hurting by being yourself? Why am I controversial? I think it’s fear. Absolute fear.”

Corrin, however, does not read the online comments about their identity or career.

“I’m getting really good at not doing it. I’d be lying if I said I never read anything,” they said. “Because sometimes you read one and think, ‘I’m never going to act again. I can’t do anything.’ You learn your lesson.”

While Corrin is embracing tuning out the haters, they are grateful for fan support of their identity, coming out journey and pronoun choice.

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“I remember this older man was waiting for me [after my performance in Orlando]. His grandchild had come out as trans, and he was trying to understand it,” Corrin recalled. “Seeing Orlando shifted his whole perspective; he couldn’t thank me enough. It was wild. It was beautiful.”

Corrin played the titular character in the 2022 West End adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name. The production takes place in the court of Queen Elizabeth I as a young nobleman named Orlando discovers his identity before and after transitioning into a woman. The show had a limited run in London, also starring Deborah Findlay, Jessica Lead, Debra Baker, Akuc Bol, Lucy Briers, Richard Cant and more. Corrin’s My Policeman filmmaker, Michael Grandage, directed the stage show.

“Very occasionally in the theater, something happens that makes you believe new ground is being broken,” Grandage, 62, told Harper’s Bazaar. “One can read a lot about past performances onstage. Audiences always talk about some alchemy that happens. Well, for 12 weeks in the West End, I think audiences witnessed one of those moments.”