Empire star Jussie Smollett covers the March 2016 issue of OUT magazine looking happier than ever. Happy to be on a hit television show, but most importantly happy in his own skin.
The 32 year old actor opens up to the magazine about his sexuality, waiting for “the one” and his character Jamal’s affair with a woman. One of my favorite parts of this interview is when he reveals some of the advice his on screen mother, Taraji P. Henson gave him. Check out what he told the magazine below!
On his Empire costar, Taraji P. Henson’s, perspective on sexual orientation: “She said, ‘Who gives a f*ck? I don’t tell these motherf*ckers that I’m straight. Why the f— do you have to tell them that you’re gay?’ That was so O.G., and it just made me love her even more.”
On how he self-identifies: “I am a gay man with an extremely open heart. God, I’ve never had to talk about this, so I’m trying to find the words. If I had to label myself, I would label myself as a gay man. With that said, I believe that love is the only thing that matters, and I would hope that anybody would leave themselves open – not to gender, but to love. I would hope that people would not close themselves off from what could be if, lo and behold, you meet somebody that just sweeps you off your feet, and you just can’t do anything about it. If we truly believe that we are born this way, then why do we try to stifle the way we were born? If I fall in love down the road with a woman, I’m going to love that woman.”
On his perception of sexual orientation: “But this is a conversation that deserves to be had, because we don’t all understand each other. You’re not going to tell me that loving someone is wrong. That does not mean that heterosexuality is not a very real. It does not mean that bisexuality is not very real. It does not mean that homosexuality is not very real. They are all very real. But what I’m saying is, I am a gay man. I am a gay man. I am a gay man. I don’t know how many times I have to say that.”
