Wicked star Michelle Yeoh has the best reaction to being called a gay icon

Michelle Yeoh is fully embracing her status as a gay icon (as! she! should!).

As one of cinema’s most influential action heroines, the Oscar winner has become a legendary figure (and “mother!”) within the LGBTQIA+ community.

With her Oscar-winning performance as Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), one of the greatest LGBTQIA+ films of all time, and as Madame Morrible in Wicked, Yeoh’s rainbow following has only continued to grow.

In a recent interview with GAY TIMES, Yeoh unleashed a “woo!” upon discovering her gay icon status and called it a “badge of honour”.

“I think it’s because [the LGBTQIA+ community] loves people that are strong,” she went on to explain. “When you are strong, you express what you believe. You take a stand, and I think in life that’s the most difficult thing.

“When you know the truth about yourself, can you take that stand? Regardless of whether people are going to accept it, you first have to make the first step.”

Yeoh memorably rose to stardom in the 80s and 90s as an action heroine in various martial arts films, before earning worldwide recognition for her roles in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

@gaytimes Michelle Yeoh: actor, @The Oscars winner, MOTHER 👑 @Wicked Movie #wicked #wickedmovie #wickedthemusical #michelleyeoh #ally #allyship #everythingeverywhereallatonce #lgbt ♬ original sound – GAY TIMES

She has since starred in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2020), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Last Christmas (2019), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and A Haunting in Venice (2023).

For her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Yeoh memorably made history as the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the first Malaysian to win an Academy Award.

Wicked, out now, also stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, Andy Nyman and Courtney-May Briggs.

Released to universal critical acclaim, the musical fantasy broke box office records with the biggest global and domestic opening for a film based on a Broadway show. It’s also predicted to sweep the 2025 Academy Awards.

Part Two is due for release 21 November 2025.

Watch GAY TIMES’ full interview with Michelle Yeoh here or below.

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