JoJo Siwa Choked Back Tears After She Was Forced To Admit That She Is Questioning Her Gender Identity, And People Are Uncomfortable
As you may have heard, JoJo Siwa is currently taking part in the UK series of Celebrity Big Brother, which got off to a pretty rocky start earlier this month when she was subjected to shocking anti-gay comments from Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke.
In uncomfortable scenes that aired last week, Mickey asked JoJo if she liked boys or girls, and JoJo replied: 'Me? Girls. My partner is nonbinary.'
In response, Mickey said: "If I stay longer than four days, you won't be gay anymore,' and when JoJo calmly said: 'I can guarantee I'll still be gay, and I'll still be in a very happy relationship,' Mickey retorted: 'I'll tie you up.'
Later, Mickey told former Love Island star Chris Hughes: "I'm going to vote the lesbian out real quick,' and after he was called out for his comments, Mickey used the F-slur while motioning towards JoJo and saying: 'I'm not talking about you.'
Chris, 32, immediately leaped to JoJo's defense and sternly told Mickey that he couldn't say such things. He comforted JoJo throughout the day, and confronted Mickey again after the actor initially refused to apologize to JoJo despite getting a warning from Big Brother.
For reference, Mickey ultimately ended up being removed from the Celebrity Big Brother house a couple of days later, and Chris and JoJo's friendship has gone from strength to strength, with the two becoming incredibly close on the show.
In fact, the two stars are so close that on Monday night's episode, they were shown speaking in code with one another. In the early hours of the morning, Chris held out his hand and told JoJo to write out what she wanted to say, which she did, telling him: 'It makes sense, just think about it.'
And JoJo appeared pensive the next morning. Speaking to reality star Ella Rae Wise, JoJo said she was in a 'deep thought session,' explaining: 'I'm the type of person that really need approval from my mom and my partner… Moreso my mom.'
ITV
Ella said that she'd realized in the house that she can't be in a fulfilled relationship if she is not fulfilled herself, and JoJo agreed as she revealed that she has a lot playing on her mind at the moment.
She said: 'I think that's something I've realized in the house. Like, I love my partner so much… My thing is, I don't know if I'm all for me. And that's kind of what I've realized being here. Being removed from everything, I think I'm so overthinking everything.'
Later that day, Big Brother exposed that JoJo and Chris had been communicating in secret in front of all of their housemates, and Chris's reaction was bizarre, to say the least. Speaking to the other stars, Chris insisted that he and JoJo had been discussing learning French and German at school before badly speaking in both languages in a bid to convince them.
ITV
'We were bored and just doing, like… Yeah…' he trailed off, while JoJo reassured their housemates: 'I solemnly swear, put my hand on a bible, it had nothing to do with nominations.'
'So, what does 'it makes sense' mean?' TV presenter Trisha Goddard asked in reference to what Big Brother had told them they'd said to one another during the incident.
ITV
'My sexuality,' JoJo abruptly confessed. 'My sexuality is what I said makes sense.' She and Chris were then summoned to speak with Big Brother in the Diary Room, where Big Brother directly asked the pair: 'What was the secret message?'
ITV
'It's something that I'm not ready, necessarily, to be open about or upfront about, but it has to do with gender and how do I feel. Let's put it this way… Oh my god, this is a lot…' JoJo began before trailing off and becoming visibly upset. Chris comforted JoJo and pulled her in for a hug as her voice started to crack.
'I'll be fine,' she insisted, before sharing: 'Essentially, you have female, you have male. I've met a lot of females, love them, don't feel like them. Met a lot of males, love them, definitely not them. Met a lot of people in my life that are nonbinary, and these beautiful nonbinary people are who I feel the most like and… I don't know, it's not something I want to say about myself yet, but it's something that is confusing, and that's probably why we were talking about it last night.'
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And JoJo was supported by Chris and their other housemates when she got choked up about the situation in the garden, with 32-year-old drag performer Danny Beard offering seriously meaningful words of wisdom as he supported the young star.
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'We're all good, it's a great conversation and one that I shouldn't be scared of having,' JoJo told her concerned housemates, and when asked why she felt scared, she added: 'I think because I don't know myself, all the answers, and so I think… We're good, it's great. There's nothing to do, nothing to change.'
ITV
'I get you and I see you,' Danny then reassured her. 'I've been in this community for a while, and you're growing up in a public spotlight. You don't need to give anyone all the answers, ever. Ever. Even when you know them for you, you don't owe anyone anything, ever.'
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'I think that's why I'm afraid of giving any answer because I'm not sure,' JoJo admitted, to which Trisha replied: 'As long as you know who you are, and what have you. The truth is, it might hurt, people might judge you, but if the people you know and you love and your community and your support know the truth… Today's headlines, as they used to say, is tomorrow's loo paper.'
ITV
At this point, the other stars corrected Trisha's British phrase to 'today's headlines are tomorrow's fish and chips wrapper,' but the sentiment was appreciated nonetheless.
And while viewers couldn't help but praise JoJo's honesty and vulnerability, as well as the way that the others supported her, the whole situation left them feeling pretty uncomfortable as they questioned whether the show was right to air what JoJo had said, considering she admitted that it wasn't something that she was ready to be public about.
ITV
'JoJo Siwa is such an extraordinary human being. I can't help but feel Big Brother forced her hand in revealing details about her gender she wasn't ready to share, and I hope she was told this would air. But gosh, her openness is a breath of fresh air in this bleak world,' one person tweeted.
'Big Brother trying to get Jojo to confess to talking about nominations then accidentally forcing her into a gender discussion on national TV...,' somebody else added, while another user echoed: 'did big brother accidentally force jojo siwa to come out as non binary rn?'
One more wrote: '#CBBUK did NOT have to air that conversation with Jojo. She was pushed to share something that she didn't seem ready to share. And they've broadcasted it. It would have been easier to… not have broadcasted it.'
Despite the uncertain reaction to the scenes airing in any capacity, one thing that viewers did approve of was the way that Chris had JoJo's back earlier in the episode, with one popular tweet pointing out: 'Chris speaking German excuse was basically to protect Jojo because he knew she wasn't ready to share something so personal with the group, I just LOVE him.'
ITV
While somebody else wrote: 'chris making up a whole bit about speaking german to protect jojo from having to tell everyone what they were actually talking about is proper allyship in action omg it's made me a bit emotional.'
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