Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose responds to claims she turns straight women gay

'People want to lead me on, or don’t realise they are doing it, but I can always eventually work out what is real and what is play,' says the actress

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While already famous within her capacity as a DJ and former MTV presenter, it was Ruby Rose’s arrival on Orange is the New Black that really cemented her status as a rising star.

It also cemented her status as an object of lust within the programme, with hordes of women who self-identify as heterosexual claiming the Australian-born actress and model was “turning them gay”.

Ultimately, she has dismissed claims of turning straight people gay as both problematic and not possible. Instead, Rose, who identifies as gender fluid, is urging people to do away with labels and embrace sexual fluidity.

“I’m one of those people who feels that everybody is somewhere on the spectrum. I don’t think it needs to be labeled - love is about the person,” she told Galore magazine.

“When people say to me that I turned them gay, I just laugh, because that’s not really even a possibility. It sounds like I did something against their will in the middle of the night, as if I crept into their brain and pushed the gay button, then did an evil laugh and left them to fend for themselves - newly gay and alone in the world.”

The excitement around Rose grew to such an extent that the 30-year-old has revealed she was being sent topless pictures out of the blue from women. Yet any response from her would be met by silence, which Rose says proves people are often just attracted to the idea of something instead of the reality.

“I would be eating breakfast and my phone goes off, and I see a topless photo. And it would always be so out of the blue, and very confusing. But then I’d be in New York two months later, and I’d get a message from that same person saying, 'God, I wish I could see you.' If I responded, 'Oh really, I’m actually in NY this week too,' I would get radio silence. [...] People want to lead me on, or don’t realise they are doing it, but I can always eventually work out what is real and what is play.

“We are drawn to fantasy over reality, and often are in love with an idea of a situation rather than the reality of it. I think people like the idea of “turning gay for someone,” but it’s not actually that simple. Ultimately, that statement is just a form of endearment or a compliment, but it’s not real.”