Pop singer Shawn Mendes addressed his sexuality in a recent song. Mendes is only known to date women during his career. But rumors have persisted that he’s into men on the down-low.
In an interview in 2016, Mendes made it clear that he was not down-low.
“First of all, I’m not gay. Second of all, it shouldn’t make a difference if I was or if I wasn’t. The focus should be on the music and not my sexuality,” he said at the time.
In October 2024, Mendes changed his attitude about his sexuality. He commented that he was “still figuring out” his sexuality at age 26.
Mendes’s frustrated fans say he’s too old to be still “figuring out” his sexuality. They suspect that he’s queer baiting or gay-for-pay — like some of his straight peers in the music industry.
Mendes addressed the ghey rumors again in his song, “The Mountain.”
“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.”
While writing the song, Mendes said he wanted to be in his truth.
“And I guess I’m just speaking freely now, because I just want to be able to be closer to everyone and just kind of be in my truth,” he said.
Mendes previously discussed rumors about his sexuality in a 2018 Rolling Stone interview. “I thought, ‘You f*****g guys are so lucky I’m not actually gay and terrified of coming out,’” he said at the time.
He continued: “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?”
He also spoke about feeling the pressure to be seen out with women in order to prove he was “not gay.”
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Mendes has dated model Hailey Bieber in 2017 and pop singer Camila Cabello from 2019-2021.
Mendes and Cabello got back together in early 2023, but they broke up a few months later. He also dated pop singer Sabrina Carpenter in 2023.
The pressure for Mendes to step out of the closet has been tremendous. He opened up about his anxiety in his song “In My Blood.”
He also booked sessions with a therapist.
Mendez said, “I spoke to a therapist a couple of times. Therapy is what works for you. Therapy is listening to music and running on the treadmill, therapy is going to dinner with your friends — it’s something that distracts you, that helps you heal and so it just depends on what you think therapy is. I made a conscious effort to be more connected to the people in my life. I found I was closing myself off from everybody, thinking that would help me battle it then realizing the only way I was going to battle it was completely opening up and letting people in.”
