After releasing a string of videos last week in which she lip-syncs to Lady Gaga‘s “Born This Way,” dances with the TikTok creators of Pride House LA, and wears a t-shirt that says “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.,”JoJo Siwa confirmed on Saturday that she is officially a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
The singer posted a 15-minute video to her Instagram answering fans’ questions and discussing her decision to come out, saying, “For the last 48 hours, I have gotten the most endless amount of love and support. I am really, really….I’m really happy. And now that the world gets to see this side of my life, it makes me really happy.” When asked how she’s choosing to identify, Siwa said she isn’t quite ready to put a label on her sexuality just yet. “I have thought about this and the reason why I’m not ready to say this answer is because I don’t really know this answer,” she explained. “I think humans are awesome. I think humans are really incredible people. I want to share everything with the world, but I also want to keep things in my life private until they’re ready to be public. I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been and that’s what matters.”
Another fan asked how long Siwa has been a part of the LGBTQ+ community, to which she replied, “I don’t know, I think my whole life. Because my whole life, I’ve really really been…I just liked people, but I have never fallen in love before. But I always believed that my person was just going to be my person. If that person happened to be a boy, great! And if that person happened to be a girl, great! I think I’m just really happy. I think in life you know when you meet your person, I really do.” The singer also addressed her November 2020 breakup with her boyfriend Mark Bontempo, explaining it had nothing to do with her sexuality. “People in life break up,” she said. “People as teenagers break up, you have a boyfriend or you have a girlfriend when you’re six years old and you break up with them, you’re not with them for forever. I was a teenager, I still am a teenager but I think I’m pretty happy now. I’m pretty good now.”
She added that both her parents have been extremely supportive of the news. “My parents have known,” she said. “My mom said she’s known for the last two years. She’s like, ‘I just know with you!’ Around two years ago, she was like, ‘I don’t think you only like boys, that’s totally okay.’ They’ve always been so everything…My family is awesome.”
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