Amber Heard revealed what it was like to tell her parents she was in love with a woman—”It was just tears, tears”

Since publicly coming out in 2010, Amber Heard has been open about the backlash she’s felt in response to her sexuality—both in her career and her personal life. Most recently, the Aquaman star revealed what it was like coming out to her religious family. People reports that at a March 9th SXSW panel called “Making Change On and Off the Screen,” Heard said that when she first told her parents she was dating a woman, they struggled to understand her sexuality (while Heard has dated both men and women, she doesn’t define her sexuality with a label).

"I am from Austin, Texas. My dad is out of central casting Texan. Good Southern man, and I was raised in a religious home," she said. "And being an outspoken lesbian, atheist, vegetarian, I remember when I told them about my relationship, that I was in love with this woman, and at the beginning of that it was just tears, tears."

“They didn’t know how to process it because, for them, it was being thrown into a binary system of processing it, negative or positive,” she added.

Thankfully, the 32-year-old actress said that her parents grew to be more accepting of her identity.

"Five years later, I was getting an award, and I asked my parents to drive out to Dallas," she said. "And I see them sitting front and center and here I am getting this 'gay' award… My parents in five years, look at the journey. Attitudes and hearts can change."

As HuffPostnotes, Heard publicly revealed her sexuality in 2010 during GLAAD’s 25th anniversary celebration. At the time, she was dating photographer Tasya van Ree. She’s since been candid about the ways that moment affected her, telling Allure in 2017 that some tried to dissuade her from coming out, even telling her things like “You’re throwing it all away.”

We’re glad that Heard’s family eventually accepted her for who she is, because all human beings—regardless of their sexuality—deserve nothing less.