Lily Cole has come out as queer.

The 33-year-old model – who has five-year-old daughter Wylde with her entrepreneur husband Kwame Ferreira – spoke out about her sexuality in her new book ‘Who Cares Wins: How to Protect the Planet You Love’.

Lily wrote: “Just as we do not choose the circumstances and ancestral patterns we are born into, none of us choose the cultural norms and laws we inherit.

“Had my mixed-race daughter been born in a different country, she would have been a crime.

“If I were living in another country today, my queerness would be a crime.”

And Lily – who tied the knot with Ferreira in 2012 – went on to explain that she felt the need to “acknowledge” that she is not straight.

Speaking about the word queer, she told The Sunday Times Style magazine: “I like that world because of its openness, because I think all those boundaries are quite rigid.

“I have lots of friends who identify as bisexual, lesbian or whatever, who also identify as queer. I’ve always been quite private about my private life, consciously, and I want to continue to be, so I don’t feel the need to be explicit. At the same time I feel the need to acknowledge that I am not straight.”

Lily was previously linked to Jude Law, David Gandy Bryan Ferry and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey before she fell for Ferreira.