Kirsten Vangsness, the out-and-proud TV star who plays computer expert Penelope on CBS’ “Criminal Minds,” is engaged to be married — to a man!
“He’s the perfect partner for me and I feel like we evolve,” Kirsten said of her engagement to actor/writer Keith Hanson. “When you’re so into somebody and you get to just mush up next to them — that’s the best part of it.”
Keith popped the question a couple of weeks ago, but Kristen’s fans may remember that she announced her engagement once before — back in 2009, when she became betrothed to girlfriend Melanie Goldstein.
That wedding never took place.
“I was so in love with her, but in terms of life growth, what we were both doing separately was just pulling us apart — not sexually, but in all other ways, in terms of what your dreams are,” Kirsten said. “All of the sudden our relationship wasn’t able to sustain what I wanted to do and in terms of what she wanted to do, so we kind of had to call it.”
Despite being engaged to a woman and now a man, Kirsten doesn’t identify as bisexual.
In 2005, she realized she was, as she describes it, “super queer,” thanks to her hunky “Criminal Minds” costar, Shemar Moore, one of the sexiest men in Hollywood.
“We got along famously, and he was flirting with me, and I remember thinking: ‘I must be queer. I should be reacting differently to what he’s doing.’”
And now Kirsten, 43, believes she’s doing what’s best for her.
“The person I’m with, I can tell you, is very, very special and the right person for me,” she said. “I was not expecting it to be a guy, but everyone has his or her own intricate stories. If I were straight, I would say I was, but I don’t totally understand it myself. I don’t want to have an answer to something that I don’t really have an answer to.”
Kirsten doesn’t have a lot of answers for questions about her wedding plans — except for one: the dress!
“I want a plaid dress that’s so cool I could wear it to something else,” she said. “Then, when I get nominated for my first big award, I want to wear that, so people could be like, ‘She wore her wedding dress!’”
