A star of the hit film Sister Act has revealed she secretly played her character as gay and attracted to Whoopi Goldberg during filming.
Wendy Makkena, who portrayed shy novice nun Sister Mary Robert in the 1992 comedy, said she made a conscious acting choice to give her character an unspoken attraction to Goldberg’s lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier.
Speaking on the You Might Know Her From podcast, Makkena explained she had been searching for a motivation to explain why her character appeared so fascinated by Deloris.
“I thought, ‘How am I going to justify how obsessed I am with Doloris?’ And then I thought, ‘Well, maybe there’s an attraction,’” she said.
The actress said she imagined Sister Mary Robert was drawn to Deloris “unconsciously” and that this attraction was something the character herself might not even fully understand.
Makkena added that the decision was never discussed on set and remained a private element of her performance, describing it as “an internal little secret” she used to inform the role.
However, she later learned that the subtext had not gone entirely unnoticed. After the film’s release, she was told that Out magazine had commented on the apparent “sexual tension” between the two characters.
The revelation has resurfaced after the interview clip was reshared online, sparking renewed interest among fans of the film, which has long enjoyed a strong LGBTQ+ following.
Sister Act, released in 1992, became one of the most successful comedies of its era and starred Goldberg alongside Dame Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy and Harvey Keitel.
Scene was founded in Brighton in 1993, at a time when news stories about Pride protests were considered radical.
Since then, Scene has remained proudly independent, building a platform for queer voices. Every subscription helps us to report on the stories that matter to LGBTQ+ people across the UK and beyond.
Your support funds our journalists and contributes to Pride Community Foundation’s grant-making and policy work.
Member discussion