Shawn Mendes Reminds Everyone He’s Straight, Went Out With Hailey Baldwin

It has been speculated among fans for quite a while now that Shawn Mendes is gay, or at the very least bisexual, but in a new Rolling Stone feature he wanted to clarify that’s not the case. For the past few years, he says there’s been a “massive, massive thing” about him being gay, and he admits that it does bother him when people are too interested in his private life.

“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,” Mendes explained. “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.” During the interview, he revealed that he’s found himself reading comments on his sexuality across both Twitter and YouTube, analyzing his own interviews to see why people think that way.

“I thought, ‘You fucking guys are so lucky I’m not actually gay and terrified of coming out,’ ” he added. “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?” This isn’t the first time he’s addressed fans attempted to out him as queer, as he previously posted a Snapchat story in which he said, “First of all, I’m not gay. Second of all, it shouldn’t make a difference if I was or wasn’t.”

Of course, Mendes previously went out Justin Bieber’s wife Hailey Baldwin, although they previously claimed they were just friends. “I don’t even wanna put a title on it. I think it was more of a zone of limbo,” he explained of their almost-relationship. A month after they seen together in public, Baldwin was engaged to Bieber, at which point she unfollowed him on Instagram and Bieber sought to take shots at Mendes on DJ Khaled’s “No Brainer.”

“I get it, you know,” he added. “I texted Hailey, ‘Congratulations,’ and I really am happy for them. She’s still one of the fucking coolest people ever — she’s not just a beautiful person visually, but she’s one of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever met. I think I’m an idiot to not, you know… But you can’t control your heart.”