Jojo Siwa has a girlfriend! Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, the 17-year-old performer shared the exciting news that she is in a relationship with “the most amazing, wonderful, perfect, most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world,” also revealing that it was her girlfriend who encouraged her to come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in January.
Speaking with host Jimmy Fallon, Siwa reflected on the viral TikTok video that first prompted speculation about her sexuality. The Nickelodeon star said she knew while making the Pride House TikTok there was a chance the video was “going to out me.” While Siwa didn’t “really mind” that because “it is true,” and her sexuality is “not something I’m ashamed of,” she said, “I just haven’t shown the internet yet.” As expected, the Jan. 23 video immediately got the rumor mill churning, and while Siwa was already out to those closest to her, she still hadn’t publicly confirmed herself as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She said her girlfriend, whom she did not identify, was “super encouraging” to help her decide to come out.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“The day after I posted on TikTok, I was on FaceTime with her and we were talking about it, and talking about all of the love that came in and technically, I still hadn’t confirmed it,” she recalled. “And I was like, I kind of want to post this picture [wearing a ‘Best Gay Cousin Ever’ shirt]… She was super encouraging, like, ‘Do it!’ I was like, ‘Alright, I did it.’”
Siwa said it was two days after sharing an image of herself wearing a t-shirt reading “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” that she realized how “risky” it was. She said coming out was worth it, though, explaining, “if I lost everything I created because of being myself and because of loving who I want to love, I don’t want it. That’s not what I want if I can’t love who I want to love. That’s one of the most important things to me.” Siwa said that while coming out can be “a very scary thing,” she has chosen to focus on the people she could help by sharing her truth, telling Fallon, “even if there’s a million people that don’t accept it, there’s a hundred million that do. Also, I don’t want it to be such a big thing. Like, what am I going to do? Have a coming out party? No, it’s just who I am.”
The Youtuber called coming out “the most insane thing ever” and said, “it was the most love I think I ever received, and the cool thing was it was the last little piece of me that the world hadn’t seen yet, and it was really awesome.” She also revealed that she was crying tears of joy just 10 minutes before appearing on The Tonight Show because she is “just so happy because now I get to share what makes me the happiest with the world, and it makes my heart so happy.”
