Paris Jackson says her family thinking ‘homosexuality is taboo’ made life ‘really hard’
Paris Jackson said homosexuality is “not accepted” by religious members of her family. (Facebook/ Red Table Talk)
Paris Jackson opened up to Willow Smith on Red Table Talk about how being queer is “taboo” in her religious family.
Willow Smith hosted her first Red Table Talk “takeover” this week, interviewing her friend Paris Jackson about mental health, self-love and music, as well as sexuality.
Willow asked Paris: “We both like girls and boys, and I just want to ask, how was that journey for you alongside being in the limelight and being famous and having all of these people looking at you and figuring out your sexuality?
“Like, figuring out what you were attracted to, what kind of relationship you wanted to have.”
Paris, who publicly confirmed she was queer last year but said she had been out for “years”, explained that she was “still kind of figuring it out”.
But her religious family members, she said, made coming to terms with her sexuality “really hard”.
“My family is very religious, and a lot of, like, homosexuality is just very taboo, so they don’t like to talk about it,” Paris said.
“It’s not really accepted… There were moments where it was really hard, and, like, you feel alone. You feel kind of excluded.”
But throughout her journey with her sexuality her brothers have always supported her, Paris said, although they “didn’t understand it at first”.
Her younger brother, who was formerly known as Blanket but now goes by Bigi, has “always been super supportive”, and her older brother Prince “joined a GSA [gay straight alliance] club in high school to learn about it because he wanted to support me”.
She added: “Not a lot of people can say they have siblings that support them like that.”
Paris Jackson has said she doesn’t want to label her sexuality
Speaking to People last year, Paris Jackson explained that she doesn’t want to label her sexuality.
She said: “I don’t feel like there is a label for my sexuality that fits.
“Labels in general, not just for sexuality but for everything, I think, are just ways for humans to make sense of the world, to be able to compartmentalise… We’re getting past the need for labels. It’s beautiful.”
