Alanis Morissette comes out as pansexual at 52: Here's how the singer made the revelation and what the term means

Alanis Morissette revealed in a podcast appearance earlier this week that she identifies as pansexual. The Canadian singer-songwriter made the revelation on the "Handsome Podcast" as the podcast trio’s first in-person guest for an episode that was released on YouTube on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

'I get everything'

"I’m sorry for the men that hurt you, but I’m not sorry for the songs that came from it. Those are pretty amazing," comedian Fortune Feimster, who co-hosts the show with Tig Notaro and Mae Martin, said at one point during the episode. "Did it make you want to be a lesbian at any point?"


Morissette, aged 52, said in response: "I’m pansexual, so yeah." She added: "I get everything." When the hosts joked that she should have started the podcast with that news, Morissette quipped: "I like to leave it for the epilogue.”

What is pansexuality?

The California-based LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD defines someone who identifies as pansexual as "a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to any person, regardless of gender identity."

It simply means that for pansexual persons, gender is not a determining factor in attraction. The term is distinct from bisexual, which refers to a person who is attracted to people of more than one gender.

Morissette's family and career highlights

Alanis Morissette is married to husband Mario Treadway, the hip-hop artist also known as Souleye. The couple got married in 2010 and are parents to three children: Ever, 15, Onyx, 10, and Winter, 7.

Morisette rose to fame in the mid-1990s with her album “Jagged Little Pill”, which became one of the best-selling records of that decade. The album was adapted into a Broadway music in 2019, for which Morisette took home two Tony Awards.

She debuted her first holiday album, the 14-track "Good Weather for Immaculate Conception", which arrived on Friday (Nov. 6). The set was led by her recording of “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,” featuring Brandi Carlile and Steve Martin.

Through her decades-long career, Morissette has released three Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, while her popular hit "Ironic" had climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996. Earlier this year, Morissette was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.