Opening Up‘Happy!’ Read JoJo Siwa’s Honest Quotes About Her Sexuality After Coming Out

Reflecting on Coming Out

JoJo revealed it was “hard” to come out while speaking with Entertainment Tonight at the iHeartMedia Can’t Cancel Pride 2023 – The Future Starts Now event in June 2023.

“Sometimes, in the moment, you don’t realize that you’re not being yourself,” she shared, “And when I was younger, I watched interviews when I was younger and the advice that I give is hilarious. A quote that I said when I was younger was, ‘You have to be yourself because if you’re not yourself and then you book the job you have to go there and be that person that they thought you were and then it just sucks from the start.'”

JoJo added, “Big me now would give some better advice. It would be that life is short and that the circle of life can be scary and one day we’re not gonna be here anymore. You know what I mean? It’s sad to think about but that just means you have to live your life on Earth as full as you possibly can.”

Realizing She Was Gay

“I fell in love for the first time at Disney World. I realized I was gay at Disney World. I went through stages of heartbreak at Disney World,” JoJo revealed to People in March 2023. “There’s been a lot in my personal life that Disney World has really attributed to.”

Reflecting on her past romance with Kylie, she added, “I was here for 14 days with a girl that was my really good friend and I realized that, ‘Oh, I like her.’ And having all those feelings while just being in the most magical place in the world and the happiest place on Earth was so cool. We’re not together anymore, but we did have some really fun, happy memories here.”

‘So Proud’

JoJo reposted the photo that she shared two years ago when she first came out to the told the world as a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.

“2 years ago today,” she wrote on Instagram in January 2023. “Now looking back on everything…. I’m SO proud of 17 year old JoJo.”

Reflecting on Her Journey

“In the last 365 days I’ve felt more love than ever. A year ago today I posted this picture and shared with the world that I was gay. I get asked a lot, ‘Was coming out scary for you’ … and the answer is yes, of course, anything that’s different about you is scary, however… it’s what makes me… me. So I had no fear with sharing it with the world,” JoJo captioned a January 2022 Instagram post. “I also get asked a lot ‘your demographic is so young are you worried about telling kids your gay’ … Truthfully I feel like I was put on this earth to be a role model for kids, and letting all the kids of the world know that loving everyone for who they are no matter what is something that I will always believe in and always share. Please never forget that no matter who you are, what you look like, who you LOVE that you are absolutely perfect. Thank you for showing me the most love throughout this year and throughout my entire life. I love you all.”

Icon Status

“It’s wild to me because I look at people who are called gay icons … and to be in that category at 18 is just insane. And just because of who I am, it feels amazing,” she shared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in November 2021. “I am so happy with the outcome of me coming out. The world has taken it so positively, and it’s impacted so many young kids in such a way that hearing adults say, ‘I wish I had someone like you when I was little,’ that makes me know the kids that are little have someone like me, too.”

Figuring Out Her Sexuality

“I’ve been figuring out my gay awakenings recently,” JoJo shared while appearing on the “4D With Demi Lovato” podcast in July 2021. The actress recalled seeing one of Demi’s dancers in the “Cool for the Summer” music video and “just being a little too interested.”

“I always knew with me, but I always said I’m not going to do anything with it or be like, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m gay, but I’m not in love with a girl yet,'” JoJo said. “I was like, ‘I’ll wait until I actually have a girlfriend or I have a girl that I’m in love with and I’ll do something with it.’ And that happened.”

Being an ‘Icon’

“Being called a gay icon, honestly, I think is the biggest honor,” JoJo told EW in June 2021. “About a year ago, I started having all these music meetings just for fun, just getting my head where I want to go. And I told the producers, ‘I want to create gay pop, and I want to have a concert for the girls and for the gays.’ Turns out a year later, I am very much so gay.”

Love Wins

“If you want to fall in love with a girl, if you want to fall in love with a boy, if you want to fall with somebody who is a they/them or who is nonbinary, that is incredible,” she said during the GLAAD Media Awards in April 2021. “Love is awesome. You can be in love with whoever you want to be in love with and it should be celebrated and amazingly now, today in the world, it is.”

Dealing With Backlash

“There are so many accepting and loving people out there that it’s OK. Of course, people are going to say it’s not normal, but nothing is normal,” JoJo told fans in an Instagram Live after coming out. “Literally not one thing about anybody is normal and it’s OK not to be normal, it’s OK to be a little different, it’s OK to be a little weird, strange, different. That’s something we should never, ever be afraid of. That’s something we should be proud of. … I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, that’s what matters.”

Kylie Prew’s Support

“She never cares what the internet said about us,” JoJo told People of her ex-girlfriend. “It’s nice to have somebody in my life like that.”

Labeling Her Sexuality

“I still don’t know what I am. It’s like, I want to figure it out. And I have this joke. Her name is Kylie. And so I say that I’m Ky-sexual,” she also told People. “But like, I don’t know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight. I always just say gay because it just kind of covers it or queer because I think the keyword is cool.”

Being Happy

“Performing has always made me super happy,” the blond beauty gushed during the magazine interview. “But for the first time, personally, I am like, whoa, happiness. I am so proud to be me.”