Hocus Pocus Star Thora Birch Opens Up About Her Bisexual Identity

Thora Birch just pulled back the curtain on a significant part of her personal life. The actress, best known for playing Dani, the redheaded little sister in Hocus Pocus, publicly revealed she’s bisexual for the first time on Wednesday while attending The Abbey’s 35th anniversary celebration. It’s a moment that comes more than seven years into her marriage to producer and talent manager Michael Benton Adler, whom she wed in 2018.

What makes this reveal particularly powerful isn’t just the disclosure itself—it’s the context Birch placed around it. She spoke candidly about how the LGBTQ+ community has shaped her identity and who she’s become as a person. Her words signal something deeper than a simple announcement: they reflect gratitude for a community that’s been formative to her journey, even before she felt ready to name that part of herself publicly.

At 44, Birch has had one of those careers that defined a generation’s pop culture touchstones. Beyond Hocus Pocus, she anchored the late’90s and early 2000s with unforgettable roles in Now and Then, American Beauty, and Ghost World—films that still resonate heavily with audiences today. That staying power speaks to her talent and the roles she chose, many of which explored complex, nuanced characters navigating identity and belonging.

During the same appearance, Birch didn’t just talk about her own story—she offered a broader message about unity and what we need to survive divisive times. She told Us Weekly,“Find your community where you can, and stand with them, and stick with them, and share that love that you share together, and reach it toward others. That’s the only way we’re going to get through all this madness is just embracing one another. We have to stop fighting.”It’s the kind of sentiment that feels both personal and universal, grounded in her own experience but reaching toward something bigger.

The timing of her coming out—now, at this particular moment in her life and career—raises an interesting question about authenticity and visibility. There’s no pressure here, no scandal, no forced revelation. Just an artist choosing to share a truth about herself at a moment that felt right, surrounded by community. In doing so, Birch adds her voice to a long list of public figures finding freedom in openness, and reminds us that coming out isn’t a singular moment frozen in time—it’s something that unfolds across a lifetime.