Lauren Jauregui has revealed how she was advised to keep her sexuality secret in the early days of Fifth Harmony.

The US singer says many LGBTQ+ stars don't reveal their sexuality due to fear of losing fans.

Lauren came out as bisexual in an open letter to Donald Trump shortly after he was elected US president in 2016.

In a new interview, she also says people are still not comfortable seeing her kiss her girlfriend.

"A lot of artists are held back by the notion that they'll lose their fan base or alienate themselves," Lauren tells Out magazine, while talking about sexuality.

Friends and family would tell me to keep it to myself Lauren Jauregui Fifth Harmony

"Even friends and family would tell me to keep it to myself. But the more I thought about it, the more I was like, 'Why?'"

Lauren, who is part Cuban and part American, says she believes people are more willing to watch violence than they are to accept same sex couples.

"People still talk [rubbish]," she says.

"But it's like, 'Why does it make you feel gross? You can watch a kid get bombed and not do anything about it, but you can't watch me kiss my girlfriend?'"

Lauren also says she's disappointed she labelled herself as bisexual when she came out, insisting that she is "a free spirit".

In the interview, Lauren also discusses her same-sex duet with Halsey, called Strangers, in which she touches on the shame LGBTQ+ people can feel.

"To me the song is culturally valuable because people are feeling so invalidated and distant from themselves, like they should be ashamed of who they are," she says.

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"It's good to be an anarchist and just love yourself. That's the most rebellious thing you can do right now."

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