JoJo Siwa gets candid about Dancing with the Stars journey: ‘I thought it was gonna be weird’
JoJo Siwa attends JoJo & Jess Siwa’s premiere party for “Siwas Dance Pop Revolution” at Studio Siwa on 3 November 2021 in Burbank, California. (Getty/JC Olivera)
JoJo Siwa reflected on her momentous Dancing with the Stars journey in a new Ellen interview.
The 18-year-old is appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday (4 November) alongside her Dancing with the Stars partner Jenna Johnson.
In the episode, Siwa opens up about what it means to her to be considered a “gay icon” just months after she came out as part of the LGBT+ community.
“I think because I look at people who are called gay icons – you [Ellen], Lady Gaga, Freddie Mercury, my favourite people – and to be in that category, at 18, is just insane,” she admits. “It’s just because of who I am. It feels amazing.”
She recalls a moment where she explained to the dancers coming on her upcoming concert tour that the crowds would be made up of “four-year-olds and gay 19-year-olds”, describing it as “Kidz Bop meets Pridefest”.
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JoJo Siwa also speaks about her experience of being one-half of Dancing with the Stars’ first same-sex dance pair. She explains she was “down” to do the show when she got the initial email but felt it was “gonna be weird” to “dance with a dude”.
“But after talking for a minute, there was an option to dance with a female, and immediately without thinking twice, I was like, this is what’s right for me,” she tells DeGeneres.
Since joining the show, JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson have consistently wowed the judges with their stellar performances – though this week viewers put them in the bottom two, despite them earning a near-perfect score of 39.
Fans immediately blamed homophobia. But despite it all, Siwa says: “I am so happy with the outcome of me coming out.”
She adds: “The world has taken it so positively, and it’s impacted so many young kids in such a way that, hearing adults say ‘I wish I had someone like you when I was growing up’, that makes me know that the kids that are little have someone like me.”
Johnson admits that she was “nervous about what the response was gonna be” when she “first found out I was dancing with a female”. However, she says that JoJo Siwa has “given me so much strength” she “can’t even remember when it’s like to dance with a guy anymore”.
