EXCLUSIVE Maren Morris celebrates major milestone after coming out and calling out 'toxic' country music community
Maren Morris has celebrated her first-ever Pride since officially coming out as bisexual.
In video obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Morris rejoices over the milestone during her performance at Outloud Music Festival last week.
'My name is Maren Morris, and this is my first Pride!' she declares, sparking rapturous cheer from the crowd.
Morris, 35, came out as bisexual last June, announcing to Instagram followers that she was 'Happy to be the B in LGBTQ +, happy pride!'
On Friday, the country singer was one of the headliners kicking off Pride Month at Outloud Festival, an LGBTQ+ music festival held in the heart of West Hollywood.
Morris continued to revel in the moment with behind-the-scenes snaps from her epic show.
'performing at my first Pride since I came out last summer and @wehopride couldn't have been a more welcoming party. happy Pride month,' she captioned the Instagram post, uploaded over the weekend.
Fans praised Morris in the comments, with one thanking her for leaving a positive impact on their family.
'Thank you for making my kiddo feel comfortable in their true selves,' one posted.
'I didn't know you came out! Loved you before & love you now even more!' another wrote.
'Welcome to the fam!!' another gushed.
Lance Bass chimed in as well: 'Loved it!' he raved.
Morris was previously married to fellow country crooner Ryan Hurd, and they share five-year-old son Hayes Andrew Hurd together.
The Girl singer recently said she 'always knew' she was attracted to both men and women but held back from ever going public with it.
'I've always known that I am attracted to men and women,' she told The Zoe Report last month. 'I think because I've been in straight relationships the last 15 years of my life, which has been consumed by my music career and living in Nashville, I never felt brave enough to talk about it.'
In June 2024, however, she finally overcame that fear.
'That was just a facet of me that I didn't think I wanted private anymore. I wanted to be able to connect with my fans and my queer community,' she said. 'Especially in a time where you're in this free-for-all post-divorce reckoning, community has been so necessary for me and life-saving. Being honest and being vulnerable is the only way that you find community.'
Maren's personal revelation comes over a year after she declared she was leaving the 'toxic' world of country music.
The Middle singer told the New York Times' Popcast podcast back in September 2023 she felt 'like l have to absorb and explain people's bad behaviors and laugh it off.'
Morris recently said she 'always knew' she was attracted to both men and women but held herself back from ever going public with it
The hitmaker added, 'I just couldn't do that after 2020 particularly. I've changed. A lot of things changed about me that year.'
'I don't want to say goodbye, but I really cannot participate in the really toxic arms of this institution anymore,' she said.
She also told the Los Angeles Times: 'I thought I'd like to burn it to the ground and start over. But it's burning itself down without my help.'
But Maren has since clarified she 'never said she was leaving country music' in a recent interview with The Guardian.
Maren called the headline of the LA Times article - which was titled 'Maren Morris is getting the hell out of country music: "I've said everything I can say"' - 'really unfortunate.'
'I never said I'm leaving country music, because that's not really how I feel at all,' she calmly told the publication. 'You hear country music on this album. You can't just intentionally take the parts away. There would be nothing left of the sound of me. Because it's just there. It's in my bones and it's in the way I write.
She said the article 'caused a ton of unnecessary drama for me from that community because I was already sort of on the outs. I'm not backtracking what I said, I just never said that.'
The singer, who has been a Nashville resident for 12 years, added 'it's not going to be some tussle that's going to make me change my address.'
Though she moved label divisions, no longer does the country radio circuit, and doesn't submit her music to the Country Music Awards or the Academy of Country Music Awards, the singer still works with all the same people.
'It would be strange to be like: "This music isn't me anymore,"' she explained. 'That makes me feel like I'm shitting on the music I've already put out, and that's not how I feel at all
'The fans that I've made and the communities those fans have made through being a fan of my music is so important to me,' she added, 'so to ever come out of my mouth saying: "I'm leaving you behind" – I'd never be so reckless and stupid.'
Regarding her new album Dreamsicle, the singer said: 'If you dive deep enough, or if you just listen to the album, it's very clear that I haven't left anything behind.'
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