Ruby Rose was 'worried' about coming out to her mom

Actress Ruby Rose was wracked with nerves when she 'came out' to her mother at the age of 12, because she had no idea lesbians or gays existed.

The Orange Is the New Black star, who has also established herself as a DJ, realized from a young age she wasn't interested in boys, but admits she didn't know how to broach the subject when she addressed her sexuality with her mom Katia.

"I was just worried because I didn't know it was a thing," she tells breakfast show Today. "I knew how I felt and what I kind of identified as, but the words gay or lesbian... I didn't know anyone else that was gay or a lesbian. So I didn't really know how to word it. So I was just like, 'I think I should let you know that when I eventually get a boyfriend, there'll be a girl.' And she was just like, 'I know.'"

Having her mother's support came as a huge relief for the young Ruby, who had apparently shown signs years earlier that she wasn't heterosexual.

"She knew when I was six apparently," the star continues. "I was like, 'Really, Mom?,' I don't even think I knew then. I didn't think it was possible. Apparently it is and it makes sense."

Ruby's Today show remarks, which will air on Sunday (05Feb17), emerge days after she expressed her relief at not going through with childhood plans for gender reassignment surgery, because she hopes to start a family of her own in the future.

"All I wanted was a boy's name growing up - Charlie, Billie, Max, Frankie...," she told The Edit last month (Jan17). "Everyone had Barbies; I had Ninja Turtles and Superman... I was crazy about Archie comics. I played footie (soccer) with the boys.

"(But) I'm a woman... I want to have babies one day, so I'm glad I didn't make changes earlier in my life."