JoJo Siwa has confirmed she has a girlfriend, and it's thanks to her she recently decided to come out as part of the LGBTQ+ community. She recently opened up to Jimmy Fallon:
The 17 year-old YouTube star came out during an Instagram live video back in January after several hints on TikTok, most notably dancing with influencer collective the Pride House, as well as dancing to Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' on another.
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Siwa inspired further speculation when she was seen dancing in another TikTok video, this time with another girl, who some thought might be her girlfriend.
She's now gone on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, and spoke to the veteran talk show host more about her coming out and also the inspiration behind it - her girlfriend.
She said: "I was doing TikTok with the people in the Pride House... and I'm like, 'I think this TikTok is going to out me'.
"I don't really mind, it is true. I do have the most amazing, wonderful, perfect, most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world.
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"It's not something I'm ashamed of, I just haven't shown the internet yet."
Although her coming out was big news, Siwa - who had also previously tweeted a photo of herself wearing a 'Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.' T-shirt - said her friends and family already knew about her sexuality. It was her girlfriend, however, who encouraged her to go further.
Siwa said: "She was super encouraging, she was like, 'Do it!' I was like, 'Alright'"
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In fact, she confirmed she identified as LGBTQ+ just ten minutes after telling her publicist she wasn't going to publicly comment on it.
Admitting it was a 'scary thing' to do, due to those who aren't yet willing to accept the LGBTQ+ community, the teen added: "I say, even if there's a million people that don't accept it, there's a hundred million that do.
"So always keep that in mind. But 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."
There was also the worry of losing some of her fan base, and she admitted she told her girlfriend that coming out had been 'risky', and there was a chance she could have 'lost everything'.
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Ultimately though, Siwa asserted that being herself is far more important to her.
She said: "If I lost everything that I've created because of being myself and because of loving who I want to love I don't want it.
"If I can't love who I want to love, that's one of the most important things to me."
At the time of coming out, Siwa said: "Personally I have never, ever, ever been this happy before and it feels really awesome. I've been happy for a little bit now."
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She has, thankfully, received an outpouring of support since.
Featured Image Credit: PA