Social media influencer Kristen West just came out as a lesbian on the very last day of Pride Month.
West, who is an educator and neurodivergent productivity creator with more than 400,000 followers on Instagram and more than 200,000 on TikTok, announced that “Surprise! She’s gay, folks,” on Instagram yesterday.
“Oh shiiiiiit, plot twist of a lifetime! Something WILD has been going on that I’m finally ready to share with this community of beautiful weirdos,” she wrote, alongside a photograph of herself holding her cat and standing in front of a Progress Pride Flag.
She opened up about getting engaged at 22 years old to a “lovely guy,” but she knew “that something mysterious and unnameable was… off. Not quite it. There was always a flinch, a snag; something in my body that said ‘not this.’”
Despite her inner turmoil, West got married when she was 23 because she was still trying to fit herself into the “Good Evangelical Christian Girl Box.”
“Truthfully, I was SO determined to squeeze myself and my desires down into this very tight box that I ignored my flinch-snag, called it courage and walked down the aisle right after I turned 23,” she wrote.
But a month ago, West made a “years-in-the-making decision” to live her truth and be honest about her feelings.
The grief of ending her relationship has been difficult, but West admitted that she’s “waking up feeling like I’ve finally unclenched a muscle I didn’t know I’d been clenching since I was ten and vibrating out of my skin with the relief of honesty.”
She then reassured her followers that her content wouldn’t be changing and that she’s “done hiding.”
West also posted a comical TikTok video where she explained “how to blow your life up and start over at age 28…in 3 steps!”
@thecenteredlifeco Oh shiiiiiit, plot twist of a lifetime! 🏳️🌈 Something WILD has been going on that I’m finally ready to share with this community of beautiful weirdos. When I was 22, I got engaged to a really lovely guy. A five-star human. A great friend who made me feel loved and safe. Yet I knew even then that something mysterious and unnameable was… off. Not quite it. There was always a flinch, a snag; something in my body that said “not this.” But oh, how I loved my Good Evangelical Christian Girl Box! The belonging! The approval! The story I thought would save me from my Inherently Bad self!!! Truthfully, I was SO determined to squeeze myself and my desires down into this very tight box that I ignored my flinch-snag, called it courage and walked down the aisle right after I turned 23. But after five very complex, nuanced married years of squeezing, trying, “this-is-fine”-ing, suppressing, deconstructing, learning, listening… I’ve finally figured out and am being radically honest about the fact that I am very gay, your honor. 😅🌈 It’s a long, complicated story, but… Yep. This has ALWAYS been a thing. To anyone who’s literally ever known me personally— that season of life where our paths crossed? I was SUCH a lesbian then! Who knew?! Not me! One month ago, I made the incredibly hard (like, the hardest thing I’ve ever done) years-in-the-making decision to dig deep and tell the damn truth. Once the last puzzle piece clicked into place for me, we knew it wouldn’t be fair to either one of us to stay married. I’m living alone for the first time now. The grief has been intense. But most of the time, I’m waking up feeling like I’ve finally unclenched a muscle I didn’t know I’d been clenching since I was ten and vibrating out of my skin with the relief of honesty. My content around here is gonna cover the same stuff as always, but now I get to be even more ferally me about it. Some of y’all aren’t gonna like this and that’s fine— bye, diva! 👋 I’m done hiding and beyond ready to go from “not this” to “oh WOW hell yes THIS INSTEAD please” ✨ I hope you guys had a good Pride month. It was my first. 🏳️🌈 #comingout #latebloomer #wlw #pride
In the video, West goes through the steps of coming out, starting with step one, which is to “Collect enough evidence that this is not what you wanted” with footage of her sobbing and singing Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.”
Step two was to change her look so people would recognize she’s a lesbian, which included getting an undercut, combat boots, and a carabiner. And step three was to get her first apartment by herself and get a cat, “always get a cat,” she says.