For many LGBTQ actors in Hollywood, there’s still the unfortunate stigma attached to their sexuality and Bridgerton star Golda Rosheuvel is not a stranger to this.

In an episode of the podcast Just for Variety, the openly gay actress said she was told by a lesbian director to keep her sexuality a secret and stay in the closet earlier in her career.

“We were talking about being out and proud and representation and whether I should say I was gay in interviews,” Rosheuvel said.

“And it was an absolute no: ‘You absolutely shouldn’t do that. It could or it would ruin your career as an actor.’ I would rather lose a job than not be true to who I am. I’d rather not work in an industry that doesn’t accept me. …It just wasn’t how I was raised. And then her being out as a female director, as a lesbian director, I was like, ‘I don’t understand this advice.’ It blew my mind.”

However, Rosheuvel - who Queen Charlotte on the Netflix series - emphasized the importance of her sexuality. 

“I’m out and proud,” she says. “My sexuality is really important to me in terms of existing, knowing that I’m important. I’m as important as anyone on the planet. Do you know what I mean? My partner [writer Shireen Mula] always says, ‘The mere fact that you’re on the screen. The mere fact that you’re in ‘Bridgerton’ as a Black, biracial, cis-gender, lesbian playing the first Black queen of England. The fact that you’re there is immense.’”

During her interview with 'Variety,' Rosheuvel discussed the upcoming 'Bridgerton' spin-off, which will focus on Queen Charlotte in her younger years.

“​​We were filming Season 2 and I got an email about a big meeting that afternoon. I was like, ‘Oh, god. Are we all fired?’ And then I got the call saying that Shonda [Rhimes] was going to be on there, Betsy [Beers] was going to be on there and the whole cast. We were told several things at the same time. That was one of them that we were told. It took a little while to go, ‘Oh, okay. That’s interesting. Right. Okay. Am I in it? Who’s doing what? Shonda’s writing it? Oh my god. Okay. Netflix has approved it.’ And then we’ve started filming it.

Bridgerton season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

Listen to the full episode below: