Supergirl’s Chyler Leigh posts about personal relation to Alex’s coming-out journey

Alex Danvers went through quite a bit in the early years of Supergirl. Working for the Department of Extranormal Operations while being the sister of Supergirl was hard enough without confronting her sexuality, but her second season arc focused around accepting that part of her identity with the help of Detective Maggie Sawyer. And the fan response to the rare LGBTQ storyline — especially impactful because Alex came out as an adult — was very positive; in fact, it was described by SYFY WIRE's Riley Silverman as "impressively real representation." Now actress Chyler Leigh, looking back at her character Alex's pivotal Season 2 arc, has posted a heartfelt look back in honor of Pride Month.

Writing on the website for her organization Create Change, Leigh published a piece titled “Wear Your Pride,” in which she explains how "honored" she feels to represent the LGBTQ+ community. She also discusses her personal connection to her character's coming out.

"When I was told that my character was to come out in Season 2, a flurry of thoughts and emotions flew through and around me because of the responsibility I personally felt to authentically represent Alex's journey," Leigh explains. "What I didn't realize was how the scene where she finally confessed her truth would leap off the pages of the script and genuinely become a variation of my own. IRL."

This real-life connection to this scene — which takes place in the sixth episode of Season 2, "Changing" — included "honest words" in a scene whose realism partially came about "because there's some truth to what she said about me," Leigh writes. The actress also notes that while the words themselves didn't "exactly match my personal dialogue, the heart behind it surely did."

Leigh describes the "journey of self discovery" undertaken by Alex's "budding baby lesbian" as something that she could "personally relate to." Without going into too many details, the actress concludes by writing that "It's been a long and lonely road for both my husband and myself but I can wholeheartedly say that after all these years, he and I are still discovering the depths of ourselves and each other, but throughout our journey we've learned to be proud of who we are, no matter the cost.”

Celebrating her own journey as well as Alex's, Leigh also posted the following Pride post to Instagram, thanking those sending "love and support":