The Veronicas’ Lisa and Jess Origliasso open up on sexuality backlash: ‘Called queerbaiting’

Jess Origliasso has opened up about being “outed by tabloids” early on in her career and the backlash about her sexuality which followed.

Jess Origliasso has opened up about being “outed by the tabloids” early in her career and the backlash over her sexuality which followed.

In a new interview with Stellar magazine, The Veronicas twins claimed they were accused of “queerbaiting” as Jess struggled to navigate the “labels” around her life in her early 20s.

“I was out back then by default – outed by tabloids,” Jess, 38, told the publication, referring to the period of time after she was pictured in an embrace with then-MTV VJ Ruby Rose in 2008.

“My statement [then] was that I didn’t need to make a statement. ‘I’m just going to be me, and if you all want to call me a fake lesbian,’ – which is what they called me at the time – ‘I don’t really care.’”

The Veronicas’ Jess and Lisa Origliasso. Picture: Supplied.

Her sister, Lisa, recalled that they were told they were “attention seeking” and “queerbaiting” in media attacks at the time.

“It was weird to have it written about so publicly because you don’t really see that anymore,” Jess added.

“I was 20. I didn’t want to give them an answer because I didn’t know what the answer was at the time. Labels were loaded back then. But all of our fans knew I was queer; I wrote about it in so many songs.”

During the interview, the pop singers were asked about a recent social media post by Jess’ ex-girlfriend Ruby Rose, whom she dated from 2016 until 2018, which vowed to expose the “truth” about the “horrific” Brisbane-born sisters.

The Veronicas star dated Ruby Rose for two years.

The Pitch Perfect 3 star, 36, told her 21 million Instagram followers she was in the middle of writing her first book – and that outing the Origliassos was her “first” priority.

“The truth. It will p*ss a lot of people off,” she wrote on her Instagram stories. “But maybe you should have been better? Excited to be free. Excited to tell the truth.

“On the sisters [Veronicas]? You’re first. How horrific you were.”

Jess is now engaged to Alex Smith, sharing the happy news with fans last September, while Lisa married actor Logan Huffman in 2018.

The Veronicas are set to perform on the American Express float during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade as part of the international WorldPride 2023 festival, which runs until March 5.

Read the full interview in Stellar, available in News Corp’s The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland), and Sunday Mail (SA)