When Ruby Rose hit the big time in the US following her debut in Orange is the New Black last year, there was a certain piece of critical feedback given by many of the show's female viewers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"She turned me gay."
But what does the former Australian VJ think of fans expressing their appreciation in this way? Rose told Galore she finds it all a bit weird.
"When people say to me that I turned them gay, I just laugh, because that's not really even a possibility," she said in an interview published on Tuesday.
"It sounds like I did something against their will in the middle of the night, as if I crept into their brain and pushed the gay button, then did an evil laugh and left them to fend for themselves – newly gay and alone in the world."
In addition to the outpouring of attraction from fans, Rose said female celebrities would text topless photos, or "slide right into [her] DMs" in the months after her Orange debut, even if she knew they were straight and in relationships.
"But then, if I actually reached out to them to get a coffee as a friend to hang, they wouldn't ever make plans. I could literally feel them sort of wondering if 'coffee' meant something different in the lesbian world."
Rose, who was honoured at the GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards last week, added that, while people want Jennifer Lawrence to be their "best friend" and want to be in Taylor Swift's "squad", somehow "she turned me gay" is just how straight women express their appreciation for the actress.
"I just think that, as human beings, we are drawn to what we can't have," Rose said.
"We are drawn to fantasy over reality, and often are in love with an idea of a situation rather than the reality of it. I think people like the idea of 'turning gay for someone', but it's not actually that simple. Ultimately, that statement is just a form of endearment or a compliment, but it's not real."
Rose is newly single after she called off her 20-month engagement to Phoebe Dahl in December. The engagement was Rose's fourth after previously having been set to wed Australian models Lyndsey Anne McMillan (in 2009) and Catherine McNeil (in 2010), and fashion publicist Lia-Belle King in 2011.
However, the 30-year-old told Galore she was "not looking at all" for a relationship.
"I'm just focused on my career," she said.
Since gaining popularity in the US, Rose has become something of a queer icon.
As well as being one of the few lesbian actresses on mainstream television, in a June 2015 interview with Elle magazine, Rose explained that she identified as being gender fluid.
"I'm not a guy; I don't really feel like a woman, but obviously I was born one. So I'm somewhere in the middle, which – in my perfect imagination – is like having the best of both sexes," she told the magazine.
