Following her coming out as LGBTQ2S+ last month, JoJo Siwa spoke on The Tonight Show and shared that her girlfriend was crucial in her decision to share this part of herself.
The YouTube personality first sparked rumours when she appeared in a TikTok video with other members of Pride House — an all-LGBTQ2S+ content house. She further dropped hints in her own lip-syncing video to Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ and posting a pic of herself wearing a “best gay cousin ever” t-shirt.
The American dancer, singer, actor and model said, “My cousin had gotten me that shirt — I took that picture like a week before I posted it — and I put it on my close friends Instagram story. All my friends know. All my family knows.”
Related: LGBTQ2S+ celebs leading the way for positive representation.
She added: “I was on FaceTime with [my girlfriend], and we were just talking about all the love that came in, and we were both like, ‘Technically I still haven’t confirmed it.’ I was like, ‘I kind of just want to post this picture on my real story.’ She was super encouraging.”
While JoJo didn’t reveal who her girlfriend was, she did say they are long-distance and on the phone “24/7.”
She acknowledged coming out can be risky and touched on the fear that many experience: “Technically, that was a really big risk that I took, posting that. But if I lost everything that I’ve created because of being myself, and because of loving who I want to love, I don’t want it.”
See also: 11 ways to be a respectful LGBTQ2S+ ally.
The star, who is worth US $14M, said that despite this risk, the support has been overwhelming. JoJo hasn’t labelled her sexuality, but instead simply said, “I always believed that my person was just going to be my person. And if that person happened to be a boy, great, and if that person happened to be a girl, great!”
