JoJo Siwa shares poignant 'self-reflection' post as she addresses her sexuality
JoJo Siwa opened Pride Month 2025 with a heartfelt post to her followers, offering a message of love and self-acceptance amid her new romance with Chris Hughes. 'Happy day 1 of the happiest month,' the 22-year-old wrote on Instagram Stories.
'What I have learned over the last 22 years is that pride is all about love, acceptance and celebration. No matter who you are or what you are, you are you, you are beautiful, and you are perfect. Everyone's story is different and everyone's journey is different.'
Calling love 'just love,' Siwa praised its simplicity and added: 'Happy pride to the beautiful LGBTQIA+ community, to the allies, and to all that exist :).' Earlier this year, the former child star made headlines when she began dating Celebrity Big Brother UK co-star Chris, 32.
During the show's 24th season, she shared a personal revelation: 'I've always told myself I'm a lesbian, but I think being here, I've realised: 'Oh no, I'm not a lesbian, I'm queer.' I think that's really cool. I'm switching letters.'
She later told Us Weekly she hadn't expected that moment to air: 'That was one of those conversations actually that I was having that I was like, 'This will never see the light of day.' I don't mind that it did, because I actually think it starts a very beautiful conversation of queer. I think queer joy is so special and so magical.'
Explaining her evolving understanding of identity, Siwa said she's no longer interested in strict labels: 'Queer is a beautiful umbrella term for the LGBTQIA community. I think that for me to be a woman and say I have a non-binary partner, but then also say I'm a lesbian is crazy. I just realized within myself that the way my eyes are to the world, I think I'm just queer.
"It has nothing to do with anything besides that. It's nothing to be ashamed of. The world is going crazy with that one though. It flabbergasts me.'
Prior to her relationship with Hughes, Siwa briefly dated Australian creator Kath Ebbs, who is non-binary. Their split reportedly happened during the Big Brother wrap party in April.
Siwa has also been outspoken about the discomfort she feels with certain language. After telling Yahoo! Life in 2022 that she 'doesn't like the word 'lesbian,'' she clarified on TikTok: 'I never said that 'lesbian' was a dirty word. It's not a bad word, it's not a slur, it's especially not a word that I am ashamed of saying or ashamed of identifying as by any means.'
In that interview, she compared the term to words people find unappealing simply by sound: 'I don't like the word itself. It's just like a lot... It's like the word moist. It's just like… ugh!' She added on TikTok, 'I don't hate the word lesbian… it's not the word that flows off the tongue for me, if that makes sense.'
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