By now you’ve read Maria Bello‘s wonderful, heartfelt essay in The New York Times in which she revealed that she is a queer woman. The internet has been buzzing about it all day, and basically what we’re hearing from our readers and our staff is a collective cry of, “There’s something about her that always made me wonder!“ So, to celebrate Bello’s courage and candor in revealing that she is in a relationship with Clare Munn, chairperson of new/social media organization The Communication Group, here are 12 times Maria Bello pinged our gaydar. 1. That time she displayed her swagger (which was all the times).
Yeah, yeah, we know: Not every woman who can work a power suit and the side-smirk while emitting an aura of confidence and power is a soft butch, but almost every soft butch can work a power suit and the side-smirk while emitting an aura of confidence and power – so you can’t blame us for having a Pavlovian response to Bello’s gender atypical energy! 2. That time she modeled suits for Oprah’s O magazine.
Good Lord, the number of suits this woman has been photographed in over the years. We’d be willing to bet she’s second only to Ellen. 3. That time she couldn’t get enough of Jane Timoney’s fedora.
The critics hated her hat, but she refused to take it off. 4. Seriously, she wore that thing everywhere.
She wore it when she was making the rounds on talk shows. She put ears on it and wore it to Disney World. Come on! 5. That time she revealed that her fedora came from “her friend” Clare. She told Entertainment Weekly:
“I was obsessed with the hat. Yes. I feel like it’s my magic hat. When I put it on, I was this character. It felt right to me. It felt like this is who Jane is. And I got it from my friend Claire. The first night I ever met her, she handed me the hat. She said, ‘This belongs to you.’ And I put it on, and for me, it’s Jane Timoney.”Her friend Clare is now her girlfriend Clare; you can read about the night they met (the night of the hat!) in Bello’s NYT piece. I guess that explains that!
6. The time she perfected the lesbian slouch.
Your move, Emily Fields. 7. The time her chemistry with gay-for-pay legend Piper Perabo was off the charts.
In Coyote Ugly, Lil introduces Violet as her “new girl.” And then the way they look at each other and their body language and basically this is the reason subtext ships are born. 8. Her role on ER.
There’s just something about an adorable blonde pediatric surgeon in a ponytail that just hollers “gaymo” to us.
9. Her role in The Jane Austen Book Club.
Jocelyn is a 50-year-old, never-married woman who is obsessed with Jane Austen and breeds Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Her favorite Austen heroine is Emma Woodhouse. And if you don’t think Emma Woodhouse was secretly in love with Harriet Smith, I don’t even know what to say to you. 10. All those times she kept on with the hats.
Flicka, The Mummy: It’s like she reached a point in her career where she refused to take a role if she couldn’t butch it up with a hat of some kind. 11. The time she became a humanitarian advocate.
You know who loves saving the world more than queer women? Literally no one. After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, she co-founded a charity called “We Advance,” a grassroots effort to empower Haitian women, provide them with healthcare, and put a stop to gender-based violence. She is also a member of Artists for Peace and Justice. 12: [Bonus!]: Her time on Law & Order: SVU.
There was nothing particularly gay about her role; we just ship pretty much all women with Detective Olivia Benson.
Did Maria Bello ping your gaydar before her NYT essay?
