I’m a Celeb star Maria Thattil opens up about bisexuality

Model and former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil has revealed her sexuality, opening up about her childhood crushes and struggle towards acceptance.

Days after opening up about her budding romance with British reality star Joey Essex, former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil has revealed she is bisexual.

Thattil, 28, said she had until recently hidden her sexuality because it had been “shamed out of me when I was in school”.

Former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil is competing in the current season of Ten’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“It is something I have felt for a very long time,” Thattil told Confidential. “I grew up having crushes on girls in school and just completely invalidated it because of religion and also because there were many homophobic sentiments in my school around being a lesbian, around anything other than heteronormativity. You don’t have a lot of bisexual visibility in popular culture and so you don’t understand what it is.”

In the jungle, Thattil has found a spark with English reality TV personality Joey Essex. Picture: Nigel Wright

Thattil is currently appearing as a contestant on Ten reality series, I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and spoke to her fellow contestants about being bisexual.

In the ‘jungle’ camp, she has been enjoying a flirtatious romance with Essex.

Her past relationship was with a man and ended two years ago.

“That was my cue to go, I have always needed to know if this is something,” she said.

Thattil represented Australia in the 69th Miss Universe Competition in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

“Because we were in a monogamous relationship I couldn’t explore it but he knew and when we broke up, that is when I started exploring and dating women.”

Thattil continued: “The way I think about it is that sexuality is fluid. It is very heavily judged and therefore people don’t come out so it is a vicious cycle. It is important not to box people in.”

Thattil explained that she is yet to enter a serious relationship with a woman but has “dated women casually”.

“My career has just been such a big focus but I have dated women casually,” she said.
Earlier this week meanwhile, Thattil said she was still in contact with Essex after his return to the UK with the show on air now but having wrapped shooting at the end of last year.

“We genuinely just got along really well,” she said. “It was a lot of banter but a lot of genuine getting to know someone type conversations.”

“In that environment, you are stripped of everything, you are starving and uncomfortable, so to find someone in the camp that you do have a rapport with, and there is that little bit of cheekiness and playful flirting, it was just comfortable. I was drawn to that energy we had between us, we were definitely attracted to each other.”