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Orange Is the New Black star Lea DeLaria admits she was arrested for ‘open and notorious homosexuality’

Home> Entertainment> Celebrity

Published 09:36 23 Jan 2026 GMT

Orange Is the New Black star Lea DeLaria admits she was arrested for ‘open and notorious homosexuality’

The American actress and comedian told the wild story of her brief real-life jail stint during a podcast appearance last year

Madison Burgess

Madison Burgess

Featured Image Credit: Cindy Ord / Contributor / via Getty

Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Podcasts, Sex and Relationships

Madison Burgess
Madison Burgess

Madison is a Journalist at Tyla with a keen interest in lifestyle, entertainment and culture. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a first-class degree in Journalism Studies, and has previously written for DMG Media as a Showbiz Reporter and Audience Writer.

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Orange Is The New Black star Lea DeLaria has opened up about the time she got arrested for 'open and notorious' homosexuality.

The 67-year-old American comedian and actress, who played the role of Carrie 'Big Boo' Black on the Netflix original series, discussed the experience during an episode of the So True podcast with Caleb Heron.

Although the podcast appearance was actually last May, the clip has resurfaced and is doing the rounds again online now.

Host Heron asked: "You got arrested for open and notorious homosexuality in my home state Missouri?," to which DeLaria confirmed: "And in Illinois."

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Like most of us might be asking right now, Heron followed up with: "What the hell does that mean? So what happened, you were just a lesbian in public?"

Of course, anti-homosexuality laws haven’t been around in those states for quite some time, however, DeLaria gave a pretty detailed account of being thrown behind bars for getting busy with a girl on the side of a lake when she was in her younger years.

Lea DeLaria last year told the story of how she was arrested for ‘open and notorious homosexuality’ (Gotham / Contributor / via Getty)
Lea DeLaria last year told the story of how she was arrested for ‘open and notorious homosexuality’ (Gotham / Contributor / via Getty)

Speaking of her Illinois incarceration, DeLaria explained: "I was holding a girl’s hand. In Missouri, I was doing a whole lot more than holding her hand. We were by a lake, that’s all I’m gonna say," which lead to both sides bursting into laughter.

The comedian then clarified that the NSFW happened in Columbia, where her best friend went to college.

She explained: "So my best friend went to Stephen's College right, I did not go to college. I went for five minutes and left. It was boring. So what I would do is I would go visit her basically every weekend."

Not holding back DeLaria joked: "So I basically was a student at Stephen's College. I mean, if you are what you eat."

To which the host came back with: "Yeah, I bet you were real popular at Stephen's College."

Wink wink.

"I gobbled those girls down man, it was so much fun," DeLaria continued, "which is why I was there every weekend. Every weekend to visit my best friend and she never saw me.

DeLaria played the role of Carrie 'Big Boo' Black in the iconic Netflix show (Kristina Bumphrey/Getty Images)
DeLaria played the role of Carrie 'Big Boo' Black in the iconic Netflix show (Kristina Bumphrey/Getty Images)

"I just dropped off the suitcase and then said goodbye."

Now, returning to the whole arrest side of the story, Heron asked the Orange Is The New Black star: "So you got arrested in Columbia, did they take you to jail?"

She confirmed: "Yeah, I was bailed out the next morning. It was not a crime that you got like a major fine for. I didn't have to go in front of a judge or anything like that.

"We tried to find some of these records and these records are so old that. The one that happened in Illinois, the courthouse burned down so that was gone."

She added that she and the other girl she was, ahem, getting to know, were both arrested and put in separate cells just in case they continued heating things up behind bars.

Speaking about the incident on another occasion, she added: "We were so busted. I spent the night in jail and they separated us too because they were afraid we were gonna f**k in the jail I guess."

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