Archive

Clementine Ford says she did not come out in “Diva”

First things first: Clementine Ford does not say she’s not gay; nor did she ever really say she was. Even though Diva magazine put her on the cover of their March issue with the text “Clementine Ford Comes Out,” the actress wants you to know that she didn’t – not at all.

“The first thing that really upset me was that the cover line … It was really misleading and full of misquotes to sell the magazine,” Ford told TV Guide. “If someone’s buying it to see that I came out, well, get your money back.”

As we reported previously, the U.K.-based lesbian magazine Diva took this quote and ran with it:

I never want to put a label on myself – but knowing that not everyone comes from such a liberal place, when something like Prop 8 comes out, you realize it’s important to stand up and be counted. A little gay kid in a small town is more important than whether I want a label.

Ford, who played Molly, Shane’s one-time girlfriend on The L Word, went on to clarify her comments about Katherine Moennig to TV Guide, saying:

That Diva article also picked up quotes from a podcast interview I did with AfterEllen.com where the interviewer asked me if the sex on The L Word was real, and I very jokingly said, “Yes, we actually had sex. The L Word is porn. The secret’s out!” And the Diva writer printed it as fact that Kate and I had real sex on camera! I was like, “Oh, my God, I hate you!” I almost wrote a nasty letter and then I stopped myself because I thought, if anyone is stupid enough to actually believe that Showtime would let us have real sex, then that’s not my problem. So that was that. But it made me very angry.

The podcast she refers to is her appearance on This Just Out with Liz Feldman, on which AfterEllen.com readers should know all interviews are meant to be taken very, very seriously. (And just for those newbies who might be Clem fans and stumbled onto the site for the first time, that’s complete sarcasm.)

To clarify her comments and misquotes about Kate, Clementine says, “I would never say anything about someone else’s sexuality. Ever.” Well that settles that.

So is Clementine Ford gay? Maybe, but she doesn’t feel the need for a label, and doesn’t want to be utilized as a poster child or a selling point for magazines. She wants to have a career that’s free of labels – including Cybill Shepherd‘s daughter.

“A lot of people think I get roles because of my mom,” Ford told TV Guide. “She did ask them to consider me for The L Word but the show shot in Vancouver and they wanted to hire a Canadian because Molly was only intended to be a one-episode part. She said, ‘Please, just watch her reel.’ That’s all. She could have gotten on her knees and begged but if they didn’t think I was right for the job they wouldn’t have given it to me. And it was the show’s idea to bring me back for Season 5 when Molly became a lesbian. My mom had nothing to do with that. People will probably always compare us, even though we’re very different in our style and look. She’s tall and blond and stretched out. I’m short and brunette and round. Whaddya gonna do?”

She might not have much control over what the press writes, but Ford wants to be in control of her career, which is picking up now that she’s joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Mac Browning. Her debut on the soap will be April 1, which she seems thrilled about.

“In a weird way it’s a much bigger deal, too,” Ford said of joining the cast. “When I told people I was going to be on The L Word, they’d say ‘What’s that?’ or ‘Is that still on the air?’ But everybody seems to know Y&R.

I know my mom and grandmother do, but they’re more in it for Victor Newman than any of the ladies. Still, my mom has always been a Cybill Shepherd fan, and it was one reason she would watch The L Word herself.

Will you be keeping up with Clementine on The Young and the Restless? What do you think about the Diva article and Ford’s follow-up comments on not having come out?

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button