Missy Higgins and her ex-girlfriend detail the pressure they felt to keep their relationship out of the public eye early on in her career

Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins has opened up about the pressure she felt to keep her same-sex relationship a secret amid her growing popularity. 

Appearing on ABC's Australian Story on Monday, the Sound Of White hitmaker, 40,  revealed how she had been in a 'secret' relationship with her tour manager Emma Goodland early in her career.

'In the early days, people were very interested in my love life, very interested in my sexuality, who I was dating and what gender I was dating,' Missy revealed.

'And I found that really hard at the time, because I was still figuring it out but also just a very private person.'

Emma, who also appeared in the episode, said it was a 'tricky time' for the star, trying to keep the relationship out of the public eye.

'Newsflash. I was that person,' Emma said, confirming the relationship.

'We went out. Missy and I went out together and we had a great relationship. We had a really lovely time,' she added.

Missy, who revealed that her relationship with Emma ended during the recording of her second album On A Clear Night, added that she was amazed with how much easier it was for young people today to express their sexuality.

'Kids coming up today are so comfortable saying: "I’m fluid in every way – gender fluid, sexuality fluid." If I was coming up at that age right now, I think I would be the same: No labels,' she said.

'But I was coming into the industry at a time where it was very taboo. It all just felt quite terrifying, and I didn't feel like I could be myself, and all I wanted to do was just to relax somewhere and not be noticed.'

The singer, who topped the charts with her hit Scar back in 2004, first set tongues wagging about her sexuality when she told Rolling Stone magazine in 2005 that 'everyone is a bit bisexual.'

Appearing on Anh's Brush With Fame in 2021, Missy said she was pressured to define herself as gay, when she was unsure how to define her own sexuality at the time.

'Everyone was speculating about my sexuality, which was such a personal thing, and such a thing I was grappling with,' she said at the time. 

 'All the journalists were trying to get an answer from me, they all wanted me to say I was gay and to come out loud and proud.'

Missy said that the constant pressure led her to 'shut down' and eventually retreat from the limelight.

She said: 'Every time I did an interview, I was in shutdown mode, because they were probing, trying to get me to slip up. Trying to get me to say a pronoun, you know? I'd be like, How do I describe what this song's about without saying "she"?'

'It was so traumatic, in a way. That became my persona: Shutting down in that way meant I wasn't going to be able to express myself because that would make me way too vulnerable.

Missy recently revealed the devastating impact the end of her marriage to Dan Lee has had since going public with the split two years ago.

'After going through divorce...I felt like the entire story I'd written for myself had burnt to the ground,' she said in an interview with New Idea in March.

Missy announced the shock news that the couple had called it quits in January of 2022 in an emotional Instagram post and explained how the pair are co-parenting their two children.

'Six months ago Dan and I separated. I became a single-parent,' her lengthy post began.

'Something I never thought would happen and something I'm still trying to grapple with, to be honest.

The Special Two singer then shared that she had long feared the 'shame of a failed marriage' and a 'broken family', and those things ultimately happened.

'I was so determined for this not to be my story,' she lamented.

'We tried many ways to keep the story alive, keep things together, keep on searching down new avenues of hope, or hope-covered denial as it may have been.

'But then life happens, doesn't it. And once again I'm on my knees and utterly humbled by my inability to control it.'