JoJo Siwa reacted to an old interview from before she came out as queer. (TikTok/@itsjojosiwa)
JoJo Siwa has her fans in stitches after sharing an old interview clip from her younger years before she came out as queer.
The Dance Moms alum is now out and proud and has been since 2021, but before she was ready to share that with the world, Siwa had to make it through a few awkward interviews.
It was likely a tough balance for teenage JoJo to handle – learning about her queer identity while juggling child stardom – but now that the singer, dancer, and podcaster has come out publicly, she can have a good laugh at herself.
Taking to TikTok with audio from an old interview, she wrote: “Good morning from me and this audio of me age 15 trying not to come out when asked in an interview ‘Any boyfriends?’”
Struggling to hold in her smirk, Siwa, 20, raises her eyebrows dramatically as she hears her 15-year-old self stutter and stumble through the question.
A younger Siwa can be heard in the audio saying: “For me, the answer is just no. I just- I don’t have time. I can’t be – I can’t be right now – it’s just not… it’s not for me. It’s not my time right now. I don’t need it, there’s really no one. I had a crush on somebody-”
In the full version of the interview, JoJo goes on to say that dating is “not her jam” and that she’s not “boy crazy”.
It turns out, lots of people can relate to 15-year-old JoJo’s frantic replies, with TikTok users rushing to the comment section to let her know that her they, too, had tripped up on that question before they came out.
“Reminds me of basically every family gathering. Nope still no boyfriend,” wrote one viewer.
“Me when I was in the closet. This is so real,” added a second.
A third shared that this was “literally me in middle school” and a fourth confessed that the “just made up a bf so people would get off my back.”
Siwa came out as gay in January 2021 when she was just 17, later clarifying that she would identify better with the term queer or pansexual.
In her new podcast, she reflected on the major milestone, admitting that she “lost a lot” after speaking her truth, but that she wouldn’t change it for anything.
“I got a lot of positivity and love… but there was also a lot of negativity, and I did lose a lot,” she told listeners.
“I didn’t care, and I still don’t care about the things I lost and the people that I lost and if I lost a chunk of fans, because it’s who I am.”
Since coming out, Siwa has been romantically linked to the likes of Kylie Prew, influencer Katie Mills, and content creator Avery Cyrus.
In a more recent episode of her podcast, she described herself as a “U-haul lesbian”, admitting that she has already moved in with two girlfriends in the past – once when she was 17 and once when she was 19.
She also noted that, since going public with her previous relationships, she has decided to keep all future romances as private as possible.
“Once I started serious dating, I realised, ‘Oh I’m bringin’ somebody else in the spotlight now.’ I’ve dated someone that was [previously] in the spotlight and somebody who has never been in the spotlight, and so, it’s a weird game to figure out,” she shared.
“But I’ve recently figured out that I prefer my relationships to be private, off the internet completely. I don’t know, I’ve been used, and I just want it to be for me.”