Shawn Mendes reveals 'truth' about sexuality in candid concert speech amid gay rumors

Shawn Mendes got candid about his sexuality during his Colorado concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Monday.

The Canadian hitmaker, 26, spoke to the crowd during one intimate moment of his For Friends and Family Tour show, and addressed the 'truth' about his love life.

Telling his fans he was trying to be 'really brave', the singer — who famously dated Camila Cabello — revealed he was still 'figuring it out.'

'There's this thing about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it so long,' he added, saying it was 'kind of silly, because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing, and it’s so hard to just put into boxes.'

'The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone.' 

'It always felt like such an intrusion on something very personal to me. Something that I was figuring out in myself, something that I had yet to discover and still have yet to discover it.' 

'And it feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that. And I’m trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things. And that’s all I really want to say about that for now.'

Shawn also shared: 'I was really young when I started. I was 15 years old. The truth is that I didn't get to do a lot of 15-year-old things and discover parts of myself that you do at 15.' 

The artist sings about his sexuality on his new song, The Mountain. 

He made the remarks while introducing the song at the show. 

The lyrics to the song include the line: 'You can say I'm too young/You can say I'm too old/You can say I like girls or boys, whatever fits your mold.'

He also spoke about his journey while writing the new song.

'Writing the song felt really important to me because it felt like a moment where I could address it in a way that felt close to my heart,' he said.

'And I guess I’m just speaking freely now, because I just want to be able to be closer to everyone and just kind of be in my truth.'

He previously discussed speculation about his sexuality in a 2018 Rolling Stone interview.

'I thought, "You f*****g guys are so lucky I'm not actually gay and terrified of coming out,' he said at the time.

'That's something that kills people. That's how sensitive it is. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? Who cares if I'm gay?'

He also spoke about feeling the pressure to be seen out with women in order to prove he was 'not gay.'

'In the back of my heart, I feel like I need to go be seen with someone — like a girl — in public, to prove to people that I’m not gay. Even though in my heart I know that it’s not a bad thing. There’s still a piece of me that thinks that. And I hate that side of me.'

In 2019, Shawn said whispers about his sexuality were 'hurtful' in an interview with The Guardian.

The superstar addressed ongoing rumors about his sexuality once more in 2020, on the Dax Shepard podcast.

'It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very very close to, who were gay and in the closet,' he shared.

'And I felt like this real anger for those people. It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, "I’m not gay but it’d be fine if I was gay — but also there’s nothing wrong with being gay but I’m not." You don’t really know how to respond to the situation.'

'Everyone’s been calling me gay since I was 15 years old. I’m not gay and I’m like, "What does that mean?" I had these problems with the way my voice sounded. I’m like, "How do I sit?" I’m always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that s**t.'

He also flatly denied that he was gay in a Snapchat message to his fans in 2016, while urging them to concentrate on his work.

'So I don't usually do this and bring up problems, but I was on YouTube just watching some of my interviews, and I was going down the comments and noticed a lot of people were saying that I gave them a "gay vibe,"' he said.

'First of all, I'm not gay. Second of all, it shouldn't make a difference if I was or if I wasn't. The focus should be on the music and not my sexuality.'

Although he has been the object of wild speculation about his sexuality, Shawn has only ever publicly dated women, such as fellow singer Camila.

Recently, Sabrina Carpenter hit the headlines for her single Taste, a acid-tongued song that is rumored to be aimed at Shawn and Camila.

Sabrina was briefly linked to Shawn in 2023, during one of the gaps in his long-running on-off relationship with Camila.

Shawn and Camila publicly got back together not long after his dating rumors with Sabrina, but have since broken up yet again.

Shawn and Camila went public as a couple over the summer of 2019 and broke up in 2021, then briefly reunited last year only to break up after six weeks.

This summer Shawn released his song Why, Why, Why about a pregnancy scare that 'shook me to my core' - though he declined to name the woman involved.

'I thought I was about to be a father - shook me to the core. I’m still a kid,' he sings in the bridge. 'Sometimes I still cry out for my mother.'

Earlier on the song, he confesses the regrets he still harbors about the end of a relationship with a woman he never identifies by name.

'Sweatin' through the sheets, shakin' in bed, visions of her naked in my head, but I went off and chose myself instead. Why, why, why? Ease my mind,' he croons.

He also previously sparked romance rumors with his chiropractor, Dr. Jocelyne Miranda, 52, last year. 

Shawn was also linked to Big Brother UK's Charlie Travers in 2023.