Amandla Stenberg Reveals Why She Decided to Recently Come Out

Amandla Stenberg is looking absolutely beautiful while gracing the cover of Variety’s annual Power of Young Hollywood issue, which is out now.

The 19-year-old The Hate U Give star opened up about coming out as gay, her identity and future. Check it:

On her feeling inspired by Beyoncé: “It made me feel like nothing else had before. It made me feel like I can do that. I can be that confident, razor-sharp, talented, efficient, loving and profound all at once.”

On recently identifying as gay: “I wanted to be transparent about who I was and stand with pride and hopefully, through that, make other people feel proud of their identities. There was definitely a little bit of nerves, but I’m lucky to grow up in an environment where I don’t have to feel repercussions for being myself and I can feel comfortable exploring and finding my truth. I wasn’t afraid because I had a lot of support around me.”

On the future of the industry in the wake of the Time’s Up movement: “I’ve been acting since I was a very little kid, so I have been aware of how the industry works. We’re at a turning point, but we have by no means fixed the misogyny of Hollywood or white patriarchy. But in terms of how we diversify our sets and diversify our on-screen narratives, I definitely think it’s a great time of change.”

For more from Amandla, visit Variety.com.