’s Gay Secret Is Out

Teasing the new season of HBO’s True Blood, TVLine.com editor Michael Ausiello reported in a June 15 post that “a major character, heretofore heterosexual, will be involved in a same-sex romance.” The identity of said character was revealed when the fourth season premiere aired Sunday: Not only has Tara (Rutina Wesley) fled Bon Temps for New Orleans and become a cage-fighter, but she’s also sleeping with a sexy girlfriend named Naomi (Vedette Lim).

“When I first got the script, I thought it was great,” says Wesley in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “They’ve always given me stuff that challenged me as an actor and that was fun. I think Tara — if she is going to have a love interest this season — she’s finally ready for it.”

Despite Tara’s same-sex relationship and newly explored sexual attraction to women, Wesley is hesitant to label Tara as a lesbian or bisexual. “I don’t think she was expecting it,” she says. “I think it just happened. I think it was one of those things where you just fall in love with who you fall in love with. I don’t think she labels herself as one thing or the next. She just started hanging out and the next thing you know, she was in love.”

Tara’s story arc last season dealt with her mourning the death of her boyfriend Eggs (Mehcad Brooks). “I don’t think she was in love with Eggs,” Wesley says. “Every time she was with him she was either stoned or under a spell. I don’t think that was real. I think it’s going to take her some time to realize that, but I think what she has now is a little more significant.”

“My main thing is I don’t think it’s because my character has such bad luck with men,” says Wesley in another interview, with   The Hollywood Reporter.  “I hope that people can understand that. Because I know people, of course, are just going to go to the ‘Oh, they’re just doing that, because she had that relationship and all of a sudden she’s gay.’ No, no, no, it’s not that. It’s just something that happened and she ended up being open to it, which I think is really cool.”