Kristen Stewart fought like hell to keep her former relationship with Robert Pattinson under wraps, but you may have noticed that she’s a little less guarded in recent years. That’s because the 26-year-old actress has publicly come out as gay, and is proud that her visibility is having a positive effect.

In a recent interview with London's Sunday Times, the newly shorn star said that when she was dating Pattinson, “the public was the enemy.”

“I hated it that details of my life were being turned into a commodity and peddled around the world,” she said. “But considering I had so many eyes on me, I suddenly realized [my private life] affects a greater number of people than just me. It was an opportunity to surrender a bit of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves.”

Once Stewart realized that going public with her relationships with women could make an impact, she chose to come out as gay while hosting Saturday Night Live last month. While the moment may have been slightly overshadowed by that accidental f-bomb, her admission of being “like, so gay” was a big moment for visibility.

“Honestly, I think it was just funny,” she said to E! News in another interview Wednesday (March 8). “Not to diminish the point, because I think that saying things so bluntly is absolutely important, but at the same time, the only reason I haven't ever done that is because there is an ambiguity to that and I wanted things to be really real for me.”

She continued, “I’m so utterly proud that I've had so many people be like, 'Thank you,' and I'm like, 'No, thank you.' It's kind of mutual, full circle.”

Nailed it.