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By Amanda Greenwood
Associate News Editor
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Alanis Morissette has publicly come out as pansexual, years after previously talking about exploring her sexuality and her experiences with women.
The 52-year-old singer-songwriter made the comment during a November 3 appearance on Handsome Podcast, hosted by Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin.
Toward the end of the episode, Feimster told Morissette she was sorry for the men who had hurt her but not for the songs that had resulted from those experiences, before asking whether it had ever made her want to be a lesbian.
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"I'm pansexual, so, yeah, I get everything," Morissette replied. When a surprised Notaro asked whether she was really pansexual, the singer confirmed: "I am." She later joked about waiting until near the end of the conversation to reveal it, saying: "I like to leave it for the epilogue."
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While the appearance appears to be the first time Morissette has publicly described herself explicitly as pansexual, she has spoken about her sexuality and experiences with women before.
In a 2008 interview with The Advocate, Morissette discussed comments she had made about exploring her sexuality. She described sexual exploration as "a beautiful rite of passage," adding: "I did exactly that. And it was great!"
She also spoke about her longstanding connection with the LGBTQ+ community, telling the publication: "I've felt love from the gay community since I was really young because all my friends were gay." Morissette said her first manager was gay and recalled going to New York nightclubs with him when she was 14.
More recently, Morissette revisited her 2000 appearance on Sex and the City, in which her character Dawn kissed Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw during a party game.
Speaking to Alex Cooper on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in September 2026, Morissette said she had suggested that the HBO series give Carrie a same-sex experience.
"I reached out to them, and I said, 'Might it be a nice time for Carrie to experience a lesbian moment?'" she recalled. According to Morissette, the show's team told her they had been thinking along the same lines.
Taken together, the comments show that although the pansexual label is a new public disclosure from Morissette, discussions about sexuality and attraction to women have formed part of her public interviews for years.
What Does Pansexual Mean?
Pansexual is a term used to describe someone who “has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to people of all genders or to people regardless of gender,” according to LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD.
It falls within what GLAAD describes as the bisexual, or bi+, umbrella, which encompasses people who have the capacity to be attracted to more than one gender. That umbrella can include people who identify as bisexual, pansexual, or fluid.
The organization distinguishes the terms by defining bisexuality as the capacity for attraction to more than one gender, while pansexuality can describe attraction to people of all genders or regardless of gender. The labels can therefore overlap, and individuals can choose the term that most accurately describes their own sexuality.
Newsweek has reached out to Morissette’s press team for comment.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Cristina Diciu.
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