JoJo Siwa says she's the happiest she's ever been since coming out as a member of the LGBTQ community.
The former "Dance Moms" star, 18, told Entertainment Weekly in a video interview she was inspired to reveal the truth about her sexuality earlier this year after falling in love with girlfriend Kylie Prew.
"I knew since I was little that I was never straight, I knew that. But I also was never like, 'Oh, I'm gay,'" said Siwa.
She added, "I told myself for a long time, I was like, 'One day, if I have someone to come out with, then I will come out."
Siwa's coming-out process unraveled in a "kind of odd" way, she recalled.
In January, the singer and social media star sparked rumors about her sexuality when she collaborated with members of the Pride House LA collective on a TikTok video of them lip-syncing to Paramore's "Ain't It Fun." She followed that up by posting her own TikTok video of herself dancing to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."
A day later, as if to confirm what her millions of fans now suspected, Siwa tweeted a photo of herself in a T-shirt that read "Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever." She also added a rainbow emoji to her username on Twitter.
Though Siwa worried that her publicist might be concerned about the post, she personally felt "super happy" about the encouragement she was receiving from fans.
"It was never, like, scary to me to put out to the world that I was happy or I was in love," she said.
The following month, Siwa surprised fans again when she revealed she was in a same-sex relationship during an appearance on "The Tonight Show."
After sharing the news about her personal life, Siwa began posting sweet images of herself with Prew, on Instagram, gushing in a Valentine's Day post, "No one in the world makes me as happy as this girl does."
Though coming out was never on her list of things to do in 2021, Siwa now says she wouldn't have it any other way — even if her honesty had interfered with her career.
"If everything was to go away because of it, because of me being happy, then it's not meant for me," she reasoned.
"The most important thing is that I'm happy," she added. "That's what my mom always taught me and (what) my dad always taught me."
