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Daily Inspiration Quote by Jill Bennett

"There are plenty of lesbians in Hollywood, but they're not out. And that's their choice, but I can't do that, it's too important to me"

About this Quote

Bennett’s line lands like a backstage whisper turned into a mic-drop: Hollywood is full of queer women, she suggests, but the industry’s etiquette of secrecy still holds. The first clause is doing two things at once. It rejects the alibi that representation is scarce, while indicting the system that makes visibility feel professionally hazardous. “But they’re not out” isn’t gossip; it’s a diagnosis of how a factory of images polices its own workers’ identities.

She’s careful, too. “That’s their choice” reads like a preemptive shield against the familiar backlash: don’t blame closeted people for surviving. Yet the sentence also quietly exposes how “choice” gets weaponized when power is uneven. If coming out costs you roles, press coverage, or access to the romantic narratives Hollywood sells, the decision isn’t purely personal; it’s economic and reputational triage.

Then she draws a hard boundary: “I can’t do that.” It’s not moral grandstanding so much as an admission that the closet demands a kind of acting she won’t perform. For an actress, that’s the knife twist: the job is pretending, but there’s a difference between craft and self-erasure. “It’s too important to me” frames visibility as an artistic and ethical necessity, not a branding strategy. The subtext is clear: Hollywood can tolerate lesbians as long as they remain atmospheric, deniable. Bennett insists on being legible, even if the industry’s preferred storyline is ambiguity.

Quote Details

TopicHonesty & Integrity
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Bennett, Jill. (2026, January 16). There are plenty of lesbians in Hollywood, but they're not out. And that's their choice, but I can't do that, it's too important to me. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-plenty-of-lesbians-in-hollywood-but-122641/

Chicago Style
Bennett, Jill. "There are plenty of lesbians in Hollywood, but they're not out. And that's their choice, but I can't do that, it's too important to me." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-plenty-of-lesbians-in-hollywood-but-122641/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There are plenty of lesbians in Hollywood, but they're not out. And that's their choice, but I can't do that, it's too important to me." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-plenty-of-lesbians-in-hollywood-but-122641/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Jill Add to List
Jill Bennett on Coming Out and Visibility in Hollywood
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About the Author

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Jill Bennett (born August 14, 1975) is a Actress from USA.

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