In a candid, no-holds-barred interview that’s already sending shockwaves through the industry, JoJo Siwa is finally breaking her silence on the rumors, the labels, and the high-profile romance that unravelled in front of millions. After weeks of intense speculation following her dramatic stint on Celebrity Big Brother UK, the pop sensation turned reality TV lightning rod is setting the record straight on what really went down — and why she’s no longer staying silent.
“I was pressured,” she says bluntly, eyes glinting with the rawness of someone finally reclaiming their truth. “I was 17, freshly famous, and suddenly everyone needed me to define myself.” The label she chose — or rather, the label she says was handed to her — stuck. “They wanted a headline. They wanted the first Gen Z lesbian pop star. But I wasn’t even sure what I wanted at that age. I just wanted to breathe.”
It’s a stunning admission from the 21-year-old whose glitter-soaked image had long masked deeper emotional chaos. And the person at the center of that chaos? Former Love Island heartthrob Chris Hughes — a pairing no one saw coming, and one JoJo now says was very real behind closed doors, no matter how inconvenient it was for the image the world had constructed for her.
“I didn’t plan to fall for Chris,” she admits. “But he was there at a time when I was questioning everything. And he never asked me to be anyone I wasn’t.” The two met quietly at an event in early 2024 and began texting weeks before CBB filming began. Insiders say their connection was “instant, intense, and totally off-script.” What followed was months of secret meetups, whispered phone calls, and, eventually, the fallout from a relationship JoJo felt she had to erase publicly — or risk total career collapse.
“When the relationship got out, I was told to deny it,” she says, voice low. “There were phone calls. Meetings. Threats about sponsors. I was told, ‘This isn’t the brand. This isn’t the story we sold.’” And so, when asked about Chris in the CBB house, JoJo did what she now regrets most: she played along with the narrative — and dumped him without warning on live TV.
“I didn’t even tell him,” she says, tears rising. “He found out like everyone else — watching the show. I broke his heart, and I hate myself for that.” According to JoJo, Chris hasn’t spoken to her since, and blocked her on every platform. “I don’t blame him. I just hope one day he knows that it wasn’t fake. None of it.”
In the weeks following CBB, JoJo says she was bombarded with both praise and backlash for her “queer awakening” storyline — a storyline she now admits was “scripted in advance” by producers hungry for viral soundbites. “I was being boxed in while the cameras were rolling. Every diary room session felt like I was being told who I had to be.”
But JoJo isn’t asking for pity — she’s asking for space. Space to grow. Space to make mistakes. And space to figure out who she is without a global audience shouting opinions about her every move. “Maybe I’m queer. Maybe I’m bi. Maybe I’m still figuring it out. But I’m done pretending to have the answer just because it makes people more comfortable.”
As for what’s next? She says she’s returning to music — on her terms — and has no plans to step inside another reality show anytime soon. “I gave the world a version of me that they wanted. Now I’m going to give them me. The messy, complicated, not-always-sparkly me.”
And what about Chris?
She exhales. “He was the realest thing I had in a long time. If he ever reads this, I just want him to know: I’m sorry. And thank you.”
