Rosario Monachino
That’s So Raven star Raven-Symoné once turned down the idea of making their character a lesbian.
The Disney channel sitcom aired from 2003 to 2007 and followed a teenage girl, named Raven Baxter, who could see glimpses into the future while juggling with high school life.
Raven-Symoné, who identifies as non-binary, returned as the iconic character for the 2017 spinoff, Raven’s Home, during which time they said they were against some character development choices being suggested.
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The spinoff followed the titular character as a single parent raising her two kids, while also living with her best friend Chelsea, who is also raising her own son.
During the creation process of the series, Raven-Symoné, 37, was asked by Disney bosses whether their character should be gay.
The TV star, who publically came out in 2013, turned down this idea for an important reason.
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The Disney star told Them: “I think Disney wanted her to be queer in the beginning and I just didn’t feel comfortable doing that.
“They were like, ‘Do you want Raven to be gay?’. I said, ‘Why?’ [and they said,] ‘Because you are’. I said, ‘Bad, bad reason. That’s a bad reason’.
“Raven Baxter never exhibited any type of sexual identity situation in the priors. I’m not being myself on this show.
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“I’m being a character. Raven Baxter’s not gay. No matter what the first four seasons looked like, with me and Chelsea sleeping in the same room and us raising a family together.
“OK, that’s not the case. We are friends. Who sleep in the same room.”
They added that the creators wanted their character to start dating, which Raven-Symoné also made sure didn’t happen.
This isn’t the first time Raven-Symoné has addressed the idea of their character coming out as queer.
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In a previous interview on the Pride podcast, Raven-Symoné explained that they didn’t want Raven to come out as queer simply because they saw no reason why they couldn’t play a heterosexual character.
Raven-Symoné said: “The reason I said no wasn’t because I wasn’t proud of who I was.
“I didn’t want to represent the LGBTQ+ community in any way.
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“It was because Raven Baxter is Raven Baxter and there was no reason for me to change the human that she was in order to fit the actress that played her.”
The Raven’s Home star married social media manager Miranda Maday in June 2020.
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