JoJo Siwa in Los Angeles in September 2023.Photo:FOX via Getty
FOX via Getty
JoJo Siwais opening up about hercoming out experienceat 17.
During the debut episode of her new iHeartMedia podcastJoJo Siwa Now,which was released on Monday and is about Siwa’s past meeting her future, theDance Momsalum, 20, reflected on coming out as LGBTQ at 17 and how much changed as a result of it.
It “meant a lot” to Siwa to be cast onDancing with the Starsas part of the first-ever same-sex couple in 2021, but it was a “massive life-changer” — also because she had come out herself the same year.
“I came out when I was 17 but I didn’t understand at the time what a big deal that was. I didn’t understand why that was scary,” she said of revealing her sexuality.
JoJo Siwa on Dancing with the Stars.Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty
Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty
Siwa continued: “I remember I was on the phone with my girlfriend at the time and I was like, ‘I think I want to come out to the world,’ and she was like, ‘OK, do it.'” So then Iposted this picture and threw it on my Instagram Story, and that’s how I confirmed it."
Regardless of the response, Siwa “didn’t think twice about it.”
“Of course there was a lot of positivity and love and acceptance but then there was a lot of negativity, and I did lose a lot,” she said of the experience. “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.”
TheSpecial Forcesstar added: “I created my career off of being genuine and if you didn’t like me because on January whatever I was straight and January the next day I was gay, then you’re not meant to like me anyways. I just try to really, really be genuine, really be who I am.”
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JoJo Siwa on Special Forces.PETE DADDS / FOX
PETE DADDS / FOX
Siwa recentlyopened up to PEOPLEabout her experience boot camp training on season 2 ofSpecial Forcesand how she got her costarsNick ViallandTyler Cameronin line.
“I was psycho. I would stand at the door and be like, ‘Nick, your bottom left button. Tyler, your right shoe. Phone… Not phone. Instead of phone, wallet, keys, you say hat, gloves, armband. Your zipper’s undone. Your button’s undone. Everyone, we’re wearing this, this and that,'” she recalled during a Los Angeles press event for the show.
“I’m lucky that I had Nick there and I’m lucky that I had Tyler there andBode [Miller]and we all got super close, but definitely Nick and Tyler is who I was like, ‘Thank God I have these people here. Because if I didn’t have y’all, nah,'” she added.
source: people.com
