Hoping to put an end to the controversy that followed her comment that, for her, being gay is a choice, actress Cynthia Nixon issued a lengthy statement Monday (30 January) to clarify her remarks.

'While I don't often use the word, the technically precise term for my orientation is bisexual,' Nixon said in a statement to The Advocate. 'I believe bisexuality is not a choice, it is a fact. What I have 'chosen' is to be in a gay relationship.'

In a relationship with Christine Marinoni since 2004, Nixon had two kids during a 15-year relationship with Danny Mozes. She had told The New York Times earlier this month one that 'it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me.'

She now tells The Advocate: 'My recent comments in The New York Times were about me and my personal story of being gay. I believe we all have different ways we came to the gay community and we can't and shouldn't be pigeon-holed into one cultural narrative which can be uninclusive and disempowering.'

'As I said in the Times and will say again here, I do, however, believe that most members of our community — as well as the majority of heterosexuals — cannot and do not choose the gender of the persons with whom they seek to have intimate relationships because, unlike me, they are only attracted to one sex.'

Nixon is currently starring on Broadway as a cancer patient in the play Wit. She won a Tony in 2006 for her performance in Rabbit Hole and has won Emmys for her performance as Miranda Hobbs in Sex and the City and for a guest spot on Law & Order: SVU.