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ELLE Cover Spotlights Wives Kissing To Help Normalize Same-Sex Unions
By Izza Sofia, 01 Dec 2020
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Image via ELLE UK
Fashion model Aweng Ade-Chuol has answered to homophobic abuse by kissing her wife on the January 2021 cover of ELLE UK magazine.
Ade-Chuol, who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya, said she had attempted suicide after receiving a lot of hate from her community over her sexuality.
She married her then-girlfriend at City Hall, New York, before the pandemic, she told the publication.
During the magazine shoot, the couple was captured topless as they embraced each other intimately.
“I’m still processing it. We got married and the whole world, literally the whole of my community, were wishing that I passed,” Ade-Chuol said. “A few months later, I attempted [suicide]. It was really absurd, because subconsciously I felt I was maybe drained by the fact we’d got married.”
On Instagram, she revealed that she tried to take her own life in April. “I almost lost my life. Three days in the ICU and six days in the hospital,” she admitted.
She told the publication that her same-sex union is still being discussed by her community. “It’s still a discussion now, like, ‘How dare she marry a woman?’” she explained. “It was saddening, because it was the happiest day of my life, and they couldn’t let me enjoy it.”
She stated that she is in a “much better place” now, and has received many supportive messages since revealing how she has been feeling. She also suggested “therapy and self-acceptance” to those who are going through a similar ordeal.
[via B&T, cover image via ELLE UK]
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