Sia Reveals She Is Autistic Following Controversial Movie
Sia shared that she is on the autism spectrum during a recent interview, noting that her diagnosis came later in life. The “Breathe Me” singer, 47, said, “For 45 years, I was like, ‘I’ve got to go put my human suit on. And only in the last two years have I become fully, fully myself.”
The Australian native, whose real name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, shared further, “Being in recovery and also knowing about which kind of neurologicality you might have, or might not have. Well, I think one of the greatest things is that nobody can ever know you and love you when you’re filled with secrets and living in shame.” The singer wed Australian pop star Dan Bernard earlier this month. She was previously married from 2014 to 2016 to Erik Anders Lang, founder and CEO of Random Golf Club.
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She continued, “And when we finally sit in a room full of strangers and tell them our deepest, darkest, most shameful secrets, and everybody laughs along with us, we don’t feel like pieces of trash for the first time in our lives. We feel seen for the first time in our lives for who we actually are. And then we can start going out into the world and just operating as humans and human beings with hearts and not pretending to be anything.”
The news comes two years after she was criticized for her portrayal of autism in her 2021 movie Music, which she co-wrote, directed and produced. The film sparked backlash after Maddie Ziegler was cast as a teenager on the autism spectrum rather than the role going to an actor with autism.
Sia addressed the criticisms on Twitter at the time, writing that she “actually tried working with…a beautiful young girl non verbal on the spectrum” but that the actress “found it unpleasant and stressful.” She also encouraged people to watch the film before forming opinions about the project. “I believe this movie is beautiful, will create more good than harm,” Sia tweeted at the time, “and if I’m wrong I’ll pay for it for the rest of my life.”
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