JoJo Siwa, 17, reflects on coming out as LGBTQ and reveals she now identifies as pansexual

She came out as LGBTQ+ earlier this year but was not ready to reveal what label she identifies with.

And JoJo Siwa has not only reflected on her self-disclosure of sexual orientation but has also declared herself as pansexual.

The 17-year-old YouTube and Nickelodeon megastar appears on the cover of the April 19, 2021 issue of People magazine as she opened up about her big announcement earlier this year. 

At the time she had said she did not want to put a ‘label’ on her sexuality but now is willing to put a technical term on it for the first time.

She explained: ‘I like queer. Technically I would say that I am pansexual because that’s how I have always been my whole life is just like, my human is my human.’

Back in February, JoJo revealed that she has an 18-year-old girlfriend named Kylie Prew and at first she used her relationship as a way to label her sexual orientation.

She said: ‘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.’

‘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.’

Their relationship began as friendship after meeting on a cruise ship but turned romantic in late 2020 as JoJo revealed that Kylie is not shaken by what is written on the internet about them.

‘She never cares what the internet said about us,’ JoJo explained. ‘It’s nice to have somebody in my life like that.’

Meanwhile, the triple-threat has gained plenty of A-list fans after her decision to come out including Elton John, Kerry Washington, and Meghan Trainor which has helped her feel the best she has ever felt. 

JoJo explained: ‘I’ve never gotten this much support from the world. I think this is the first time that I’ve felt so personally happy.

‘Performing has always made me super happy but for the first time, personally, I am like, whoa, happiness. I am so proud to be me.’

As she has totaled over 3.6billion views on YouTube, she has found plenty of success and has even become a bit of mogul with merchandise at huge stores including Target, Walmart, and JCPenny.

However shortly after coming out as LGBTQ+, she Googled herself and was troubled to find that so many people had declared that they would never buy her products or watch her videos again after the revelation. 

JoJo said that she ‘couldn’t sleep for three days’ after her time on the search engine but eventually found clarity.

She said: ‘My thing is, I don’t want people to watch my videos or buy my merchandise if they aren’t going to support not only me, but the LGBTQ community.’ 

JoJo first revealed she had a girlfriend while reflecting on coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community during a chat with Jimmy Fallon back in February. 

The YouTube and TikTok star, gushed about her ‘wonderful, perfect, most beautiful’ partner, and said it was her other half who encouraged her to come out publicly by posting her picture in a ‘Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.’ shirt.

She added that while she felt it was ‘a risk’ to come out she knew more people would accept it than not, and she was delighted she could ‘share what makes her the happiest with the world’. 

Of coming out, Jojo told Jimmy: ‘It was the most insane thing ever, literally everyone and their brother called me, texted me, sent me Instagram messages, tweeted me.

‘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.’

It came after she sparked speculation about her sexuality the previous month in January, when she took to her Instagram Story with a photo of her wearing a shirt that read: ‘Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.’

JoJo subsequently cleared the air in a video she posted to Instagram, as she said through a beaming smile: ‘For the last 48 hours, I have gotten the most endless amount of love and support.

‘I am really, really — I’m really happy. And now that the world gets to see this side of my life, it makes me really happy.’ 

At the time the YouTuber answered a follower who asked what label she identified with: ‘I have thought about this, and the reason why I’m not ready to say this answer is because I don’t really know this answer.

‘I think humans are awesome. I think humans are really incredible people. I want to keep things in my life private before they’re ready to become public. I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been. And that’s what matters.’