Raven-Symoné is explaining why she didn’t want her Raven’s home character to be a lesbian.
In a new interview on the Pride podcast, the 35-year-old actress revealed that she asked a Disney Channel exec if she’d be interested in identifying her Raven’s Home character, Raven Baxter, as a leabian the reboot.
Despite the offer, Raven declined.
“You know what, there was a conversation before the series started and I was asked the question, ‘Would you like Raven Baxter to be a lesbian?’ And I said, no. I said no,” Raven shared.
“And the reason I said no wasn’t because I wasn’t proud of who I was, or I didn’t want to represent the LGBTQ+ community in any way,” Raven continued. “It was because Raven Baxter is Raven Baxter is Raven Baxter.”
Raven came out as a lesbian following the legalization of same– marriage in 2013. Disney premiered the Ravens Home reboot in 2017. In the reboot, Raven is a divorced single mom raising her children in a shared home in Chicago with BFF Chelsea (Annelies van der Pol).
“There was no reason for me to change the human that she was in order to fit the actress that played her,” Raven added. “And Raven Baxter is a character that I was proud to play, even if she is straight, cisgender, I don’t mind. Let her have her moment. She was divorced though, and I had no worries about saying, ‘No boyfriends.’”
Raven-Symone recently made her first red carpet appearance with her wife!