Bella Ramsey is opening up about how her gender fluidity impacts her work — from the characters she plays to the clothing she wears.
The “Last of Us” star, who came out as nonbinary last month, told GQ in a profile published Monday that she wore a chest binder for “90 per cent” of the filming for HBO’s hit sci-fi drama.
“Which probably isn’t healthy, like please bind safely,” said Ramsey, who opted for she/her pronouns while speaking to the magazine. She added that binding allowed her to feel more focused on set.
Binders are “compression garments often worn by trans and nonbinary people to alleviate chest dysphoria,” according to Out. Experts told Insider in 2020 that it’s important to choose a correctly sized binder and to not wear one for more than eight hours at a time.
Ramsey told GQ that her “Last of Us” co-star Pedro Pascal, whose sister is transgender, was “super supportive” of how she identified. Ramsey said the two often had conversations around gender and sexuality while working together.
“And they weren’t always deep: they could be funny and humorous, the whole spectrum. We were just very honest and open with each other,” she said.
In recent remarks, the former “Game of Thrones” actor has exemplified how being nonbinary isn’t a one-size-fits-all identity. While speaking to The New York Times in January, Ramsey said that she “really couldn’t care less” about which pronouns people use for her.
She echoed this sentiment in her conversation with GQ, noting that something else people do is a bigger nuisance.
“This is what bothers me more than pronouns: being called a ‘young woman’ or a ‘powerful young woman’, ‘young lady,’” Ramsey said, adding, “I’m just not [that].”
She also told GQ that although she doesn’t identify as a woman, she feels completely comfortable playing “feminine characters” — whether in dresses or corsets — since it provides “a chance to be something so opposite to myself, and it’s really fun.”
To read Ramsey’s profile in full, head over to GQ.