Caroline Giuliani, daughter of Rudy, opens up about being polyamorous
Caroline Rose Giuliani, the filmmaker daughter of Rudy Giuliani, is opening up about her sexuality and about being polyamorous.
In an essay for Vanity Fair, Giuliani, 32, shared her experience as a "unicorn," a person who joins an existing couple looking to have a threesome. She also talked about identifying as pansexual.
"I now understand that my curiosity, open-mindedness, and sense of adventure are three nonnegotiable, defining elements of my identity," she wrote. "But it wasn’t until I started sleeping with couples that I shed my shame about those qualities, let alone embraced them in all areas of my life. Finding the strength to explore these more complicated, passionate aspects of my personality became the key to harnessing my voice and creative spark, which in turn helped me better cope with depression, anxiety, and the lingering cognitive effects of adolescent anorexia."
Giuliani, who last year directed/wrote the film Or (Someone) Else about a woman struggling in an abusive relationship, said she previously "was in a long-term, loving, monogamous relationship." However, it was one her "body begged me to end before it progressed to an engagement." She didn't understand what was missing from the relationship, "but I did know that my partner loved me despite my weird wildness, while I yearned to be with someone who loved me because of it."
Once she was single, she "immediately began to make up for lost time," she detailed. She said she "had known for some time that I was at least bisexual" and said "threesomes were at the center of a personal Venn diagram."
While exploring polyamory — and a dating a couple — she said it "started me on the path to identifying as pansexual, which feels more precise than bisexuality. I am attracted to people based on their presence and energy regardless of their biological sex, gender, or gender identity."
Giuliani, whose mom is former newswoman and actress Donna Hanover, said it's important to her to be comfortable and open about her sexuality but has led to her being "slut-shamed" by some, while "virtual strangers have often felt comfortable confessing burdensome secrets about their sexuality."
She added, "I have always valued my ability to hold space for people to share their repressed experiences because I believe it’s an essential step in combating the toxic shame our society perpetuates."
Giuliani said embracing herself has made her a "better person," adding, "I know now that I am empathetic, radically open-minded, profoundly adventurous, and fiercely committed to telling stories that reduce the stigma surrounding sexuality and mental health — including this one, right now."
She also shared that she hopes to "eventually find a 'monogamish' relationship, like many of the couples I’ve dated have."
In October, Giuliani wrote an essay for Vanity Fair titled, "Rudy Giuliani Is My Father. Please, Everyone, Vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris." After her parents high-profile divorce in 2002, she became estranged from Trump's former personal lawyer and NYC mayor.
In her Biden/Harris endorsement, she described herself and her Republican father as "multiverses apart, politically and otherwise," and said she's "spent a lifetime forging an identity in the arts separate from my last name."
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: