Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes recently addressed longstanding speculation about his sexuality during a concert in Colorado.
The 26-year-old artist, who has dated pop stars Camila Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter, has often shared how speculation about his sexuality has affected him.
In the past, Mendes admitted feeling pressured to “be seen with someone—a girl—in public” to counter the assumptions, saying the rumours had been “upsetting.”
Performing at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on Monday, the Why Why Why hitmaker told the crowd he had “thought about this for a minute today if I was gonna say something tonight at this point.”
Mendes paused for a moment, encouraged by cheers from his fans, before opening up about his experiences as a teenager in the music industry, having entered the spotlight at just 15.
The musician continued: “The truth is that I didn’t get to do a lot of 15-year-old things and discover parts of myself that you do at 15.
@shecutex3 proud of @Shawn Mendes for speaking up for himself. let the man live and figure his life out.🫶🏻 #shawnmendes #redrocks #themountain #shawn #ffafo #forfamilyandfriends #colorado
♬ original sound - sof✨
“There’s this thing about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it so long” adding that it’s “kind of silly, because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing, and it’s so hard to just put into boxes.
“It always felt like such an intrusion on something very personal to me. Something that I was figuring out in myself, something that I had yet to discover and still have yet to discover it,” he added.
“The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone. And it feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that.
“And I’m trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things. And that’s all I really want to say about that for now.”
The artist addresses his sexuality in his new song, The Mountain, sharing these remarks while introducing the track at the show.
The lyrics to the song include the line: “You can say I'm too young/You can say I'm too old/You can say I like girls or boys, whatever fits your mold.”
Mendes has received an outpouring of praise for his heartfelt statement, with many fans standing by him after years of speculation about his sexuality.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one penned: “People need to be allowed to live their lives and figure it own on their terms and not feel forced into talking about it publicly all the time.”
“Famous people owe us nothing, stop asking them about their sexuality and let them live,” another shared.
A third added: “He really does seem like a nice guy desperately wanting peace, I hope you find it babe.”
Mendes previously discussed speculation about his sexuality in a 2018 Rolling Stone interview.
He responded to the rumours: “I thought, ‘You f*****g guys are so lucky I'm not actually gay and terrified of coming out.’
“That's something that kills people. That's how sensitive it is. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? Who cares if I'm gay?”
In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, Shawn described the rumors about his sexuality as "hurtful." He revisited the topic again in 2020 on Dax Shepard's podcast, addressing the ongoing speculation.
“It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very very close to, who were gay and in the closet,” he shared.
“And I felt like this real anger for those people. It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, ‘I’m not gay but it’d be fine if I was gay — but also there’s nothing wrong with being gay but I’m not.’ You don’t really know how to respond to the situation.
“Everyone’s been calling me gay since I was 15 years old. I’m not gay and I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ I had these problems with the way my voice sounded. I’m like, ‘How do I sit?’ I’m always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that s**t.”
Mendes has previously dated Camila Cabello, with whom he had an on-off relationship since 2019 before their final split last year.
He was also briefly linked to Sabrina Carpenter in 2023, sparking headlines when Carpenter’s song Taste was rumoured to be directed at Mendes and Cabello.
Besides Carpenter, Mendes was linked to his chiropractor, Dr. Jocelyne Miranda, and Big Brother UK’s Charlie Travers.
