Queen Latifah: "I Don't Care if People Think I'm Gay or Not"

Yesterday's major NYT Magazine profile of Queen Latifah didn't break any new ground but at least the writer didn't entirely avoid her glass closet.

One topic of persistent speculation on the Web is Queen Latifah’s sexuality, particularly a supposed romance with a female trainer. She has never addressed her relationships publicly and was in no mood to start. “I don’t have a problem discussing the topic of somebody being gay, but I do have a problem discussing my personal life,” she said. “You don’t get that part of me. Sorry. We’re not discussing it in our meetings, we’re not discussing it at Cover Girl. They don’t get it, he doesn’t get it” — she gestured upstairs, toward Compere’s office — “nobody gets that. I don’t feel like I need to share my personal life, and I don’t care if people think I’m gay or not. Assume whatever you want. You do it anyway.”

Latifah's new film is The Secret Life of Bees, based on Sue Monk Kidd's bestselling novel. It opens October 17. The movie she wants to make next, Just Right, would see her starring as a basketball loving physical therapist who wants to be a trainer. Her next album, returning to rap, is called Shakim's Ego and she's trying to get Annie Leibovitz to shoot the cover. It will debut in December.