From her breakout moment on Lifetime’s hit show Dance Mom, Jojo Siwa splashed into stardom with a booming fanbase that had every little girl adding oversized bows, high side ponytails, and glitter adorned clothing into their signature look. With a swarm of fans dubbed ‘Siwanators’ from her YouTube channel in awe of the triple threat, Siwa morphed into a modernized (and internet-revised) version of a childhood celeb before our eyes. This January, her staple rainbow garb took a new meaning when she came out as queer after a series of cryptic posts to social media. For many, the influencer — who befittingly was named to Time’s Most Influential People of 2020 roster — was no longer just a personality, but a dazzling portrait of love, power, and confidence for queer youth.
In her cover interview with Entertainment Weekly that commemorated the start of Pride month, Siwa spoke to her journey of both discovering and revealing herself to the world. “I had the world convinced. I really did. I think I even had myself convinced, honestly,” she said of her past romantic experiences. Siwa previously dated a TikToker before her current relationship with Kylie Prew, who she credits for making her “the happiest I have ever been.” She continued, “I gave it a shot and I was like, ‘This isn’t for me.'” Siwa revealed her sexuality via a virtual hint trail across Instagram and TikTok. After lip syncing to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” with the TikTok creators of Pride House LA and posting a shirt boldly emblazoned with “BEST. GAY. COUSIN. EVER.” fans swiftly lined the clues together, but Siwa says the signs have always been ostentatiously displayed in plain sight. “I mean, I wore a rainbow on the top of my head almost every day of my life,” she said. “And any time I could have anything rainbow, I would get rainbow. June’s my favorite month to shop because of all the Pride clothes.”
The unbridled joy that erupted on timelines following the news quickly hailed the 18-year-old to icon stature. “Being called a gay icon, honestly, I think is the biggest honor,” she said. “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.” Hopefully, we’ll be hearing tunes from the singer soon, but for now her mom, Jessalyn Siwa, says the impact on families across the globe is what is really the upshot from it all. “I was like, ‘You’re really, really lucky that the world embraced you and you’re helping other people, you’re on that side of it,'” she said. “And that was a big reality check for us, to really try to make it easier for people and easier for kids, easier for parents to be more accepting.”
