JoJo Siwa 2 Hours Before Celebrity Big Brother EXCLUSIVE: I Wasn’t Emotionally Abused On Dance Moms - "I’m Not Going To Say Who It Was!”

26:52It doesn't matter. But we were all chilling in the hotel room. All the moms would go out. We would all stay in one hotel room and basically babysit each other. Anyways, at this time, I was lower class than everybody else was. Okay, we'll say it that way. I was not, we were not, my family was not struggling. But, you know, the other kids would come with$100 every week and be able to get everyone a treat and whatever. Right. So then we finally got to a point where we had gotten a few Dance Moms paychecks. And my mom finally was like, Jojo, like, I can give you some money tonight if you want to treat everybody.

27:22And I was like, oh, my God, that'd be awesome. So she gave me$100 in a cash,$100 bills, my first$100 bills. It's big. So I go into the room and one of the girls was like, do you guys want ice cream? And I was like, yeah, like, let's do it. Like, I got money this time. Like, I want to get it for everybody. And she was like, well, if you want to get the ice cream, you have to come downstairs with me to get it. And I said, my mom told me I can't leave the room. I was 11. You should not leave the room by yourself. And I was like, but if, like, you want to go get it, because she was like, I'm going to go get it.

27:49I was like, take my money and get it for everybody. She said, no, if you don't come, you don't get ice cream. And I said, oh, OK. it's okay so she went down by herself and got ice cream and she came back up with six ice creams and there was seven of us in the room and she said you get one you get one you get one you get one you get one and walked past me and sat down and ate her ice cream and I'll never forget at the time Kenzie actually was like here Georgia like share with me and I remember just being like damn you know what I mean because like I tried I don't know I think that's the that's the shit that shapes me as a kid.

28:24The stuff Abby said to me, that would go one in one ear out the other. Sure, sure. But that shit, nah, that's stuff that sticks with you for life. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, even what I see to this day, I always feel like I always want my peers' respect. And I think too, and I think this is important, is that it's important to be able to identify the emotion and just be able to sit in it and say this is part of the human experience. And when I sit in the emotion, I can now better position myself to rebound from it. And also learn how that hurt me and do it to no one. Exactly. You know what I mean?

29:02And I think going into the Big Brother house, like I'm thinking right now, like I need to find a friend right away so I don't feel alone. But then I'm realizing everyone is thinking that right now. We're all leaving our family. We're all leaving our pets. Everyone's a little sad, but we're all so excited. But make sure there's no one left out. If there's someone sitting alone, check and say, hey, like, do you want to be alone right now? or do you want to come chat to us? Because sometimes you need to be alone, right? Especially as an adult. But I think that's so important to include. Include. So when you go back to the end of Dance Moms, did you feel alone?

29:35No. No, I don't think as a kid I felt alone. I think, I mean, I had my friends on Dance Moms, but I also had my mom. I also had my friends back home. I had my dad and my brother. No. All right, good. Yeah. Good. All right, so now another thing that I saw, which I thought, I was thinking, okay, the branding is so good. Thank you. They're so good. So was it methodical when you were on Dance Moms? Did you start to position the bow? No. No? No. Did your mom position the bow? No. You just loved wearing it rocking the bow. That side ponytail and bow has been since I was three years old. You just loved it.

30:10That was my own life. Okay. And it got to a point right before I went to Dance Moms that I went to a dance convention and I was at my first convention where I like didn't wear a side ponytail bow and I was like 10 years old. So it was a big deal, right? Like, cause most kids don't wear a bow anymore once they age out of like eight years old, right? But I was nine and I wore the bow on TV for AUDC and then I was judged with the bow bow, whatever. You know Tate McRae? Yes. Okay, so Tate McRae was in the dance world. We were the same age at this time and she was there and looked really cool. And we were the same age, we were 10.

30:41And I was like, she's so cool. Like, I want to be like Tate. Anyways, so I go to the next dance convention and I dressed like Tate did because, like, she was the cool girl. She came in from Canada, so she would travel down for conventions. She wasn't at this one. And, you know, I'm now wearing a white bra top and my hair in a high ponytail, and I'm different. No bow? No bow. I'm wearing black. I'm wearing a black leotard and a bun. I'm cool. That's when I got the call for Dance Moms. And when I got that call, my mom was like, do you want to be like JoJo with the Bobo and like yourself or do you want to be cool like Tate?

31:14And I was like, I want to be JoJo with the Bobo again. And I mean, I had a three day period where I wasn't judged with the Volvo. And so when I went to dance moms, we had outfits made. We got bows to match. Then it's just who I was. You know what I mean? And then once it sort of became a brand, I liked it more because it was people were accepting me for who I was. Exactly. So did you feel at that time? Because once again, you're only what, 11? Yeah. You know, so did you feel you becoming a brand and the merchandising happened or not really? I didn't feel like I was becoming a brand, but I felt like I was becoming liked.

31:48And I felt like people were embracing me for who I was. They were embracing my difference. And I feel like that kept it going. That made the bow get bigger. The outfits get louder. That made all that. All right, JoJo. I want to show you this. So in that, how old are you right there? This was Kids' Choice Awards. I think 20, it looks like 2017. I would have been... 13 or 14. Okay, so you're 13 or 14. Yeah. The bow is massive at this point. Yeah. Okay. The bow has already, so you've now already started selling products. Yeah. Okay. Do you know how many bows you've sold? Oh, there's, I mean, trying to find out right now as we speak.

32:37The last time I heard it was over 90 million. Over 90 million. Crazy. Yes, over 90 million bows. Crazy. So I ordered a bow. Let's see. You got a little big bow. JoJo, I was coming to you. This was my gripe. There must be different sizes of the bow. Oh, yeah. That's a mini bow. This is a mini bow. Oh, yeah. Okay, so I can get the full size bow. Yeah, the full size is maybe about this big. Okay. That's like the standard. And then there is mega bows that are about this big. But then the standard is about this big. There's like a medium mini that's like that big. And then that's like a mini. There is actually one, too, that's smaller than that that we sold for a bit.

33:16But that's like, so that bow comes in like a seven-day-a-week pack. So it comes with seven of them. And there's like one for each day of the week. So I have to grow up my hair so I can rock it every day. You can put it on your vest. Oh, I can do this. Yeah. Yeah, you can do it. So these bows are still selling to this day. Isn't that crazy? Still banned in schools over here in the UK. The bows are banned? Yeah. Why? So people don't know this, but for a bit, my UK audience was actually my biggest audience. And it was because of the Jojo Bo craze. So they, in schools, became super popular. They had to ban them in school because kids were treating them and, like, fixing them all the time.

33:58And they got distracting. So they had to ban Jojo Bo's. Has the ban been lifted? I should find out. For the Jojo Bo's, yeah. I should find out. Yeah. Yeah. This is wild. Crazy. This is wild. So that was the first product? The Jojo Bo's, yeah. The Jojo Bo's. All right. So this is your what? 13 when. The time I was 13 when they became licensed. When they became licensed. Yeah. So can we talk about how you amass this power, right? Because one thing that I think was a genius move that is not talked about. Let's hear it. We need to talk about this. Give it to me. Is that you were on television. So I think this is like 11, 12.

34:33Yeah. But then you start focusing on YouTube. Yeah. Right. that is not talked about enough because there's so many child stars yeah that never adapt different different platforms different mediums it's interesting i almost gave myself my own tv show because of youtube that was my tv show being on youtube you know what i mean and it i had a best friend and still have a best friend who inspired me to do it and you know she said my whole family does it and she said it's it's great you can make a living off of it and she So just try it. You might like it. You might hate it. And I loved it. So that was your friend telling you, you're not talking to any management.

35:10When I was really young. That was when I was like 11. 11. Okay. And you decide, I'm going to give this a try. Yeah. All right. So what becomes your goal?

35:25Honestly, my goal at that time was to make a video that did good. was I was I was hungry for it there was always something that meant be yourself that was always the messaging you for you is beautiful right and it's interesting how that so coincides with the LGBTQIA community and at a very young age it was that same messaging minus LGBTQIA part right be yourself believe in yourself you're awesome for who you are every video was in that and so I wanted to chase everyone I could, every view I could, be as out there as I could to get that message out. Okay. That was always my, like... That was the goal.

36:05I just, I want people, whether that be for 10 seconds on a TikTok and they're, you know, an older teenager that's laughing at me. What are you wearing? You look weird. They laugh. They're smiling. They're having fun with it. They're sending it to their friend. Or if that's a four-year-old watching a YouTube video going, I want to be just like Jojo Siwa. Jojo Siwa's so cool. Jojo Siwa wears bows. I want to wear a bow and be cool and different. You know what I mean? You inherently as a four-year-old, you don't understand that I'm pushing the message of be yourself, pushing the message of be who you want to be and have fun and live life to the fullest.

36:38You don't understand that. But you understand, just you is different. I can be different. You know what I mean? That's what. Okay. So I see that, right? But what is challenging me a little bit. Give it to me. I love this. is the enormous amount of effort and work that you had to contribute towards this. Yeah. Because I've seen with lots of people, lots of my friends who are in television. Yeah. You know, it's like, I'm just tired. Yeah. You know, you work long days. You were talking about how long Dance Moms is. I looked at how many shows you've done. You've done so many. I can't even count how many television shows you've done.

37:10Isn't that crazy? Like, literally, you've done dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of television shows. You have the merchandising happening. So I think, okay, if you roll out social media and a YouTube situation, most people have teams doing that. Yeah. But it seems to me that you were the one doing this. Almost to the point where it looked like you became obsessed with it. I, it was my life. It became my, a big part of my education. It was my after school activity. It was my life as a kid. I loved it. I loved editing. I loved filming. I loved coming up with ideas. I loved being a YouTuber.

37:47I loved all my friends that were older than me and so cool. They were YouTubers and I wanted to be like them and be a YouTuber. Like it was, it was what it was. And it's interesting because I feel like now, and this is something that I'm struggling with recently, is I look back at that and I'm like, wow, it was so successful, right? You look at my childhood and you're like that, that massive, wow, that's crazy. At the time, it wasn't like that. At the time, you know, you were, you were fighting for views. At the time, it was, let's make the best thumbnail possible. You know what I mean? There was that hunger and that drive because it wasn't glorified.

38:20It was not an instant success. I think a lot of people look back at my life, and because it's already been done, they think, oh, instant success. Right. But it was a struggle. You know, it was tough. It was a fight. There was a lot of work that went into it, but it's what I wanted. I have had people run my social media, and I hate it. It doesn't work. We've tried. I've tried multiple different teams because sometimes it's just not the one for you. You know what I mean? And there's some sort of loss of control that it's my voice and no one else should be speaking on my voice. You know what I mean?

38:52And it's, yeah, it's my career, but it's also my life. Right. Yeah. You could see it where you care about the message that's being placed. Right. It's not just about the view. The view is important. Yeah. But the message is equally important. The message is so important because it's it's why the view is there. What does that mean, right? What do you want to do with that? Like if you're in this business to make money and get a view, that's going to run out. Because how could you get a million views and now all of a sudden you're getting 10 ,000? It doesn't make sense. And so if you are only in it to chase that, you're going to run out.

39:26And it's going to be awful. But I don't know. I think a lot of times too my youngness was such a blessing. Because now I'm older. Now I care about that sort of stuff. You know what I mean? I hope you won't mind that we're taking a quick break from this conversation to talk about my show sponsor, Shopify. So many of you who listen to this show every week also run your own small businesses or side hustles. And we all know that these days, having a business without a website is almost impossible. But getting an online store up and running isn't always an easy or quick task. unless you're using Shopify, the all-in-one commerce platform to help you start, run, and grow your business.

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41:49It's one of those where you could see that there was a long period of your life where you're right, the confidence was high. And I can't wait. We're going to get into why the confidence is not as high. Oh, God. Right. And let's even start to touch upon that. Yeah. Have you heard of a psychologist named? No. I can already stop you there. No.

42:12Eric Erickson. Nope. Okay. But a good name. I like it. It's a strong name. Honestly, having the last name Eric Erickson, good on his parents. Yes. Eric Erickson. And if his sister is not named Erica Erickson, I'm going to read. There's an issue. There's an issue. I'm going to read. All right. I'm going to research that right after this. Yeah. So now he is, he's one of my favorites, right? Yeah. And he talks about the importance of childhood. Yeah. And in childhood, the importance of unstructured play. Yeah. The importance of self-discovery. Yeah. Right? And what ends up happening, you could see with so many child actors, people who have become so famous at a young age, is that they have a hard time distinguishing between who they are and their public persona.

42:58Yeah. Did you have a challenge with that? It's interesting because as a kid, no, not at all. Because I wasn't, you know, Miley Cyrus playing Hannah Montana. I wasn't Selena Gomez playing Alex Busso. I was, you know, Jojo Siwa being Jojo Siwa. You know, and that's kind of where that conflict came in with the movie is the director was like, I'm the boss. And if I wasn't playing Jojo Siwa in that movie, that would have been the case. And I would have had to sit down with my tail between my legs and been like, I guess I'm being told what to do. And honestly, that's how it always was. It was just I was always me.

43:39And I was out and I was always me. And it didn't matter who I was. It didn't matter if I was loud and crazy. It's just who I was, right? And it didn't matter if I was super chill. Yeah, there was a lot of my life people didn't see. You would see a 10-minute video a day. There's a lot more in your day than 10 minutes, right? But people, again, don't want to watch that. You know what I mean? They want to watch the fun entertaining stuff. Even on Big Brother. You know what I mean? There's going to be 24 hours in a day cut to 40 minutes. This is true. Right? And so in that 40 minutes, do you want to see the times when we're being really nice to each other and the times where we're helping each other and the times where we're making up handshakes and the time when we're cooking and the time we're cleaning?

44:21Or do you want to see why we have to clean? What food fight did we get in? What is the drama happening? Yes, you want to see us be nice and have fun and have banter. But people like, that's entertainment. You know what I mean? And it's not to say being mean is entertaining. That's not the case at all. But people like to be entertained, right? And I always knew that as a kid. Nobody wanted me to make slime. I didn't even want to make slime myself. But making the world's largest, sparkliest slime? Sold. Sold. But what people didn't see is I would make it. chuck it, go edit the video. And I enjoyed going to edit the video more than I enjoyed filming it.

45:02That's interesting. I love that side of things. That's interesting. Yeah. So, so thinking about that, right. Yeah. Where were the hard moments for you? Because you're right. These are the moments that we didn't see. And to this day, people say, oh my, like, what did she have, did she have any hardships? But I, I would imagine that you had unbelievable. Yeah. hardships and challenges. I mean, of course. When I was 14, maybe I was 15, I don't remember, one of those two ages, there used to be a thing called Meme of the Month. And it was a big deal at the time. Now it sounds so ridiculous and stupid.

45:40But I was Meme of the Month for October. And it was making fun of me. And I went out to a place called Knott's Berry Farm with my four friends. and I had never experienced in-person bullying like that. Multiple, I'm talking multiple hundreds of people, not two or three. I'm talking hundreds of people shouting, fuck you, Jojo Siwa. Jojo Siwa, you're a bald bitch. Like people were fucking brutal to me and they were saying that to me, because the meme was that I had a crazy receding hairline and that I was going bald at age 14. First of all, I can ask you this. You're bald. Is being bald a bad thing?

46:25No, I mean, you know what's interesting? Not at all. You know what's interesting about that? Studies show that bald men are considered to be the sexiest men. Okay, don't hype yourself up like that. I see what you're doing over there. I'm just saying, JoJo, this is what I hear. Studies say that women wearing pink moto jackets and two ponytails are the sexiest women. That's what I hear too. Yeah, that's the new study that came out. I surveyed one person. My girlfriend. I'm kidding. Keep going. But no, no, no. But I mean, so you were, so why did you get meme of the month? What was? Because people were saying that I was going bald.

46:59That was it. And they were saying that I was a giant toddler and I was too tall for my age and I didn't dress my age. I didn't act my age and yada, yada, yada. And here's what got me about that, right? Here's why I was okay. Because being bald is not a bad thing. And anybody who's saying being bald is a bad thing, you have a problem. If Jackie, okay, we'll just say Jackie is bullying Sarah at school. Sarah might not be able to handle it. Sarah might, you know, develop mental problems, mental health problems. Sarah might just be sad. Sarah might just have a bad day because of it. If Jackie finds more enjoyment bullying me, she's going to stop bullying Sarah.

47:42Let her bully me. Let people shout shit at me. If you shouting shit at me stops you from doing it to somebody else all day long. Hell yeah, I have a receding hairline then. So I started pulling my hair back further. And I started doing videos where I would yank my hair into a ponytail because that's what people were saying. And so I said, say it more. Be my guest. Bully me. I don't care. You can't. You can't. You're far away from me. You're on a comment section. Grow up. You know what I mean? But I realized that I was taking heat off of other kids. And that, to me, was so valuable at such a young age.

48:14How long, though, JoJo, can you be the punching bag, right? Right. Because I will say this is that, you know, you know what I was shocked about? And I'm sure you've seen this. Yeah. Is I'm shocked at the viciousness of the comments about you through to this day. Yeah. And also what I'm also very shocked about is whenever we have a guest, I will say, you know, I'll go out and I'll say, what do you think about this particular person? I was at a party this week on Saturday. Yeah. Right. And I said, you know, we've got, you know, JoJo Siwa's coming. Yeah. And I watched the emotion. Now, it was split.

48:51Yeah. Half the room, oh my gosh. Yeah, lean in. We love her. The other half. Be honest with me, I hear it every day, so. Was retraction. Ugh, I can't, ugh. It was one of those. Yeah. You must feel this. How long will you accept being the punching bag? As long as they're there. It doesn't matter. because I can spend my time wondering right now, why did those people think that, right? Or I can spend my time right now going, damn, half the people love me. That's beautiful. There were people who don't know me that were choosing to, people who have never met me, people who have probably seen two videos of me on the internet and heard one of my songs, right?

49:39Or people who don't like gay people. And, you know, those are the people who said, And, oh, why? Okay. The other half of those people also don't know me. Maybe you know a little more of my career. Maybe they don't. And they chose to be nice about it. And they chose to be on the optimistic side. Those are the people that I care about. And I think I can, I don't mind being the Internet's punching bag. All good. Some rando comments, yeah, sure, it hurts occasionally. Yeah, sure. It's annoying. Yeah. Yeah, sure. It's like, okay, grow up, right? Yeah, sure. And every so often I have a moment, right?

50:23If somebody decides to hate on something new. If somebody was to say, Jojo has big knees, just say. I would look at my knees and be like, fuck, I gotta do. And then I'd be like, okay, grow up. We're talking about knees here. You know what I mean? So it sinks in for a moment. It takes me a second, and then I, you know, spit it back out. I'm like, okay, two people, okay. but there's I don't know it's it doesn't bug me because also those people they still got a little enjoyment saying that you know what I find too interesting about that is that you still evoke emotion you know and to what you were staying true to yourself because yeah that's what you wanted as a little girl you were like hey and they have an opinion and they they they care enough about me to have an opinion on me and I don't know I think look I think it's different if someone's met me and they have a rough experience and for that I would have a conversation and be like hey this is why I was acting this way towards you I had no malicious intent with you um I just was going through this that day or that that day because that's that's human nature right right um I'm not maybe a nice person every day but I will always be a good person.

51:38So who was it or was it circumstance that led to that confidence that you're talking about being lowered and lowered as you've gotten older? Honestly, I think myself because I think I've become more aware of things and I've become more aware of what I look like, more aware of what people are saying to me, more aware of what I sound like, more, you know, when you're young, you're naive. You have an imagination that is bigger. You look in the mirror and you put an outfit on and you don't think, ooh, this like fits my arm funny. You think, oh my God, Hannah Montana. You know what I mean? Like you, I would put this jacket on as a kid and be like, whoa, it's so cool and sparkly.

52:18Right. But as an adult, I'm like, it kind of lays on my hips funny. Right. That just is like, I think a lot of times we try to point a finger at where that comes from, but a lot of times it's just yourself. You're just becoming more self-aware and you hear things, you hear things that other people say and your brain is developed by billions of different places right but I think for me personally I'm just so aware of myself now and I'm still growing obviously my brain has four more years till it's full developed um fully developed but I don't know I think that obviously like being told stuff every day makes you makes you think about things right Being told you're too loud makes you think, like, do I need to be a little quieter?

53:07Maybe you don't say that, right? Maybe you say, you need to be louder, you know, but maybe you think, oh, now am I shouting? You know what I mean? So that's being conscious, as you're saying. So being self-conscious, then, is you monitoring that about yourself? Yeah. So what's one area that you think you're most self-conscious about today? My singing. Your singing. And it's a booby trap because that's my career. And it's my favorite thing. And it's singing and performing and being live on stage. It's my favorite thing ever. But it is the thing I'm by far most self-conscious about. Wow. Yeah. Do you consider yourself to be a good singer?

53:44Absolutely not. I would never, ever, ever. I wouldn't even say I'm a singer. I would say, my name is Joe DeCiwa. I'm a dancer. I'm a performer, an entertainer, and a reality TV star. I will not say I'm a singer. Because it's, unless I really have to. Unless they're like, hey, we really need to get in that you're a singer. I will. I think because when I was little on Dance Moms and the other girls said to me, you can't sing with us, you're not a good enough singer. It stayed with you. It stuck with me. And that was something by my peers, by my friends, by the people the next day I told who I had a crush on.

54:13You know what I mean? But that sticks in your brain. And you don't care about it until two years later when you try to sing. And then you're like, fuck, maybe I can't sing. Right. Yeah. And you mentioned this earlier in the conversation is that when you were in the booth that you cry. All the time. All the time. All the time. And even when I leave a recording session, everyone around me knows sensitive time. You know what I mean? Like, give me an hour to see if I'm okay. What about on stage? When I'm on stage is when I am the most comfortable. Okay. Feel the most confident. Feel like nothing in the world can go wrong.

54:52It is the weirdest thing. Being in a booth? I hate it. singing live sign me up I'm down Freddie Mercury had this quote and I used to never sing live and then Freddie Mercury said no one can sing my songs better than I can and I have that actually typed out on my in ears because it's so true you know you're an artist you have these songs people come to me and they're like you have a platinum song you're a singer I'm like no I'm an artist I'm an entertainer I'm not so do you hope to be a singer one day can I be really honest No. I don't, I don't, I'm not spending my life chasing the thing that I feel bad about myself for.

55:33You know, I, the more I chase trying to be a singer, the sadder I'll get, the more sad I'll feel about it. The more I chase being an entertainer and a performer and making others feel happy, the better my life is. And long story short, we don't know when this life ends. and if I spend one more second of my life than I already have going, because I have, right? Being like, oh, I want to be a good singer. I want to be a singer. I want to be considered, I want to be taken seriously as a singer. Right. If I spend one more second doing that and then my life was over, I would roll in the grave. I would literally be like, oh.

56:13Like you'd literally bury me in my eyes, I would be rolled. Like I would be livid. Yeah. Because I can chase it being a performer and an entertainer. All right, I see it. And maybe not making the best song, but making a song that's entertaining and that you like and that's different and unique. And I'm never going to be Celine Dion. It's never happening. It's not within goal reach. You know what I mean? It's all good. But there are other things that are. And you'll chase that. And some of the best artist entertainers have some of the wildest voices that people would say are bad. I don't think anyone's a bad singer besides myself.

56:46But I know sometimes I need to take my own advice. But a lot of people have very opinionated opinions on artists. Someone like Britney Spears. People always say she can't sing. She can't sing for nothing. Okay, she's the biggest pop star in the world. What does it matter? You're entertaining. You listen to her music. If I was just saying, hit me, baby, you would say, one more time. Sure would, yeah. And that's her song, and she's an artist. You know what I mean? Yeah. All right, good point. Point, point, point. I mean, you got it. You got it. It's interesting. Although I will say, it does pain me to hear you say that you are a bad singer.

57:21People hate when I say that. Yeah, that's definitely. I mean, thank you for feeling that and saying that. I mean, it's my team, my partner, my mom, everybody gets very upset with me when I say that. Because they're like, you are the first one to say no one's a bad singer. Why would you say that about yourself? Because I am. But I don't know. I just like to...

58:15Okay, I'll say this. Right. All good. But so in that zone, you'd be an athlete. Here, you're going to be the best entertainer. Yeah. All right. So that's the goal. Yeah. That's. Like, literally, world's greatest entertainer. That's my, like, I just want to make people happy. Okay. Make people feel entertained. 15-second TikTok, two-hour show. It doesn't matter. Okay. All right. All right. So now, we have to talk about relationships. Ah, please. My favorite topic. Sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you've had what I would call an interesting. Is that a good word to use to describe? My relationship life has been described as a lot of words.

58:51You've had a— Interesting is a nice one. It's interesting. So let's start with this, is that let's talk about sexuality and identity. Yeah. Okay. That journey. One I'm still on, for sure. It's interesting. thing I never you know thought and thought twice about anything I remember one time also on Dance Moms one of the girls um said oh the this girl who used to dance with us just came out as a lesbian her Instagram had gotten hacked and somebody said I'm a lesbian now on her hacked Instagram so it wasn't her saying and I don't know if she actually is or isn't but it was at a time where she got a lot of hate for that and I remember the other Dance Moms girls who were little saying oh she's a lesbian like that's weird we danced together like we changed in front of her and like she likes girl like that's weird and I literally remember saying and I never stood up to the girls but I remember being like that's not weird and they were like what and I was like it's not weird kept it pushing didn't think twice about anything right and then I remember having a best friend and we met and this now I was 16.

1:00:05Yeah, I would have been 16. And we met on a cruise ship and I asked her, I said, so when did you know you were gay? And she was 15 at the time. And she said, oh, I'm not, I have a boyfriend. And I was like, dude, no way. And she showed me a picture of her and her boyfriend. And she was the first girl that I ever met that I was like, lesbian. I never met any girl like that, but I knew she was. Anyways, we became best friends. We talked every day. She lived in Florida, I lived in California. Six months later, she comes to me and she's like, hey, I think I have to tell you something. It was June, so it was Pride Month.

1:00:34And I was like, what's up? I think you were right. And I was like, that you're gay? And she was like, yeah, I think I might like mostly like girls. And I was like, yeah, I know. Which is exactly what you're not supposed to do to somebody. You're not supposed to put that pressure. You're not supposed to assume anything. But I fully did. And I was like, yeah, I know. And she was like, okay. And two months later, she became my first girlfriend. So how that got there was she was telling me about a crush she had on a girl and how they had a night in a hot tub And they were in bikinis and she was just sitting there looking about at her and I thought to myself I wish that was me so we were going to see each other again over Christmas because I was gonna be in Florida She lived in Florida, so we're just friends at this point My parents asked me like what would you do if she like tried to make a move on you like she did her friend?

1:01:19And I was like, oh god, she would never like we're best friends It's so weird and I genuinely believed that at the time But I was a little jealous of the girl in the hot tub. Anyways, we see each other in Florida for the first time. Okay. And I got in her car and we sat there for 30 seconds, 45 seconds, staring at each other. And she was like, I should go find a parking spot. And I was like, you should go find a parking spot. Like, it was like the grandest, and we both have talked about this multiple times, like the grandest feeling of feelings that you can feel. And she parked and we got into the hotel room and immediately she was like, I have to do homework.

1:01:57And I was like, yeah, no, no, all good. I have to edit something. And we separated. And then we played this game the whole week called Jaden and Abby where we pretended we were my brother and his girlfriend. But at this point, you know, I'm straight. Right, right. And she asked me, she said, do you have a crush on anybody right now? And I said, yeah, knowing it was her. And she said, will you tell me who it is? I said, no. And we played this game the whole week. She would keep asking me. I would keep saying no. And she said, will you just tell me if it's a boy or a girl? And she was the first person that I said, I have a crush on a girl.

1:02:29And she said, I knew it. I knew you were gay, too. That's why you cared so much about me being gay. And I was like, shut up. Don't tell anyone. Like, my family can't know. Like, that was my thought at the time. She was like, will you tell me why you won't tell me who your crush is? And I was like, no, I'm not talking about it. And she was like, okay, can I just ask you, is it because you're afraid of rejection and, like, being rejected by this person? And I said, yeah. and she said okay that would that's crazy of you and I was like huh and she said no one would reject you I was like what do you what do you mean and she was like well you're like anybody's perfect person and honestly I'm really jealous of whoever your crush is and in that moment I literally told her I was like it's you and then we just cuddled and it was so sweet and so innocent and then that was it and then the next day we kept like looking at each other like side eye like we know now like it's a mutual crush whatever and then you know we had kissed that night and it was it was beautiful and it was sweet and that's when I knew first girl you kissed first girl I'd ever kissed can I can I ask the cuddle though yeah at that moment what emotion would you use to describe that moment for you frozen I was frozen I had no thought no feeling my body couldn't move I not only was having feelings for my best friend, but for a girl in her arms just frozen.

1:03:51Don't know what I'm feeling. Don't know what this feeling is, but I love it. And I want to never, ever stop feeling this feeling. And it just felt so magical. Nothing could go wrong in that feeling. Wow. At what point though, because you're Jojo Siwa. So at what point do you begin thinking, who am I going to tell? Never. I never thought about it. You never? I never thought about it. So the next day is where we had to separate and it was really hard. We just had these beautiful grand feelings and my, I said goodbye to her, walked her to her car. I kissed her goodbye because no one could see us.

1:04:28And it was like, what are we going to do about this? We don't know. Nobody knows about me. Some people know about you. Like this is crazy and whatever. We're very young also at this point now we're 17 and 16 right and so I get back in the car with my family and my mom says I'm crying because we just said goodbye and my mom says me like you really like that girl don't you and I was oh yeah and my mom said do you like her as a friend or like do you like her as like more than a friend and she asked me and I can't lie to save my life and I more than a friend and I was like I figured and my dad was like sweet no pregnancy scares and then my dad was like i bought something while we were at universal because i kind of thought this was the case and he pulled out a love is universal cup wow and it they made it really easy on me and that's not the case for most people but then there was like a two-week teething period where it was kind of awkward my parents didn't really have much conversation with me and then my mom came to me and was like hey i know i've been weird i don't know how to talk to you and she was like i don't know if i'm supposed to ask you questions i don't know if it's invasive i don't know if you want to talk about it can we You just have a super open conversation.

1:05:34And I was like, I don't know how to talk about it either, but I want to talk about it. I want to tell you everything. And my mom was like, okay. Like, we had a very open, I've never had a gay kid before. I don't know. Am I supposed to just, like, talk to you as if you were a straight kid? Am I supposed to be a little extra, a little less? And I was like, I don't know either, Mom. Like, I think just talk to me like you talked to Jayden and we'll call it a day. And so we did. And it worked out great for us. The support and love that you had from your parents. Yeah. Was unreal. Is unreal. And I'm sure that then allowed you to be more confident.

1:06:03So coming out to the world. Yes, because this is what I find. So I was I found this stat. This completely blew me away. So this is a 2016 stat. But a Pride in London survey, 1000 LGBTQ plus people found that 74 percent still felt the need to hide their identity when in public. Yeah. That blew me away. Yeah. And I would imagine at that point you have business interests and partners who may not want you to come out. Yeah. And I had no idea of that. I had no idea of that. I was 17, and I was in love for the first time. And so I made a video to Born This Way. And showing that it doesn't matter. If you want to think that I'm gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender, life, I'm on the right track, baby, I was born to survive.

1:07:00Right. Those are the lyrics that I sang, too. And that was just me being like, look, it doesn't matter. Right. Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not up for interpretation. And then it got to a point where people were speculating so much. I mean, it was millions of people. It was nuts. There's a thing called queer baiting. Right. Where you can kind of people use the queer community, unfortunately, to gain a follower. and it got to a point where people thought I was maybe queer baiting and just trying to get that, right? Get that get. And I wanted to make it very clear that that wasn't the case. But I didn't know what to do, but it got to a point where I should confirm or deny, right?

1:07:39Either set the record straight or set the record straight that I'm not, right? And just so I'm clear, you're the one making this decision. Absolutely. You're not consulting with anybody. My mom. Just your mom. I'm telling her my ideas and she's saying, oh, I love that. Oh, you should do that part of the song. Nothing crazy. and at that point I say okay I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna think on it okay so I FaceTime my girlfriend it's about 2 in the morning and I had just posted to my close friend's Instagram story a shirt of me saying best gay cousin ever yes yeah okay and it's 2am I'm on FaceTime with my partner and we've been dating for 3 days at this point something like that I told her I said I think I'm gonna post this picture publicly and she said okay do it and I said okay I'm going to and I I popped it on Twitter and I woke up the next day and it was like nothing I'd ever experienced online.

1:08:32It was bananas. And I thought it was all positive. I thought people were being nice. Ellen DeGeneres reached out. I mean, people from Grey's Anatomy, which was my favorite show at the time, reached out. Demi Lovato reached out. Madison Beer reached out. Like, beautiful souls reached out. It was crazy. I saw, did Elton John also? Elton John called me, got my phone number and called me. Mm-hmm. Getting a random number from the UK thinking it's a prank call and answering it being like, hello. And it's like, hello, darling, it's Elton John. You're like, fork. Hi. Crazy. And what did he say? We had met before.

1:09:06So we had met a year, year and a half prior. And he just wanted to say how proud he was of me and congratulations. I mean, the closet was a glass door. Anybody could see like, yeah, no duh. Yes. And so I think he obviously, you know, being in the community, he could see that. He knew. He knew. But I thought it was all positive. I thought, I mean, Elton John called me. Who else could have an opinion, right? And then I scrolled. And I was like, holy shit. And my thought wasn't, whoa, people are being so mean to me. It was, whoa, people are really homophobic. Still. How is it, at the time, I think it was 20, 21, how are we still here?

1:09:49and at that point, it became my mission because I used to be, I still am, I don't want to make it sound like I'm not, but I used to be super passionate about anti-bullying, right, and kids in school, and I still am, it's still a big part of my life, but now being older, something I realized is I used to tell bullies to stop, right, that was the message that I said, stop bullying, we need to end bullying, tell a teacher, let's end bullying, and when I was like 15, I was like, that's not realistic, you can't tell the bully to stop, but you can tell the person that's getting bullied what to do, how to handle it.

1:10:18You can also tell them that they're beautiful and they're awesome and they don't need to listen to it. You can inspire that person much more than you can stop a bully. And so that, once I came out, kind of taught me that it's not about the homophobic people. It's not about the people who don't like me. It's about the other people, my age, older than me, younger than me, who maybe are in a closet, maybe are out of a closet. But what about the pressure, though, that the corporates then apply to you? Because you're this massive business entity. It was interesting because Nickelodeon, the president at the time, said to me, what are we going to tell the kids?

1:10:54And I said, what do you mean? And I realized that because, you know, when you come out, you're immediately, people assume you're talking about having sex with a woman as a lesbian, right? That's what people think. Oh, I'm coming out. That means, hey, guys, guess what I did? It doesn't mean that at all. And the same way they think it's cute if I do a music video and have a romantic interest that's a boy. does that mean I'm having sex with this boy? I'm 14. No, it means it's cute and we're drinking lemonade and it's precious, right? And it's not about that. And I think me coming out at such a young age helped that message be pushed.

1:11:30But it's interesting, and this was the story that I was just gonna tell about my best friend because he went through a similar situation. He is, I'll talk about him openly. His name is Ezra. He's a pro on Dancing with the Stars now. And he's a very new pro. He's the newest of the pros. Him and I met when I did Dancing with the Stars. and right away I said to him, one of the first things I ever said, I was like, you're gay, right? And he was like, yeah, how'd you know? And I was like, bro, it's obvious. And we became best friends. We became inseparable. Anyways, he comes on my tour with me and we were on an Instagram live stream.

1:12:00And mind you, he is open the way he talks. He's wearing rainbows left and right. His hair is glittery and rainbow every night. Like, he's very clearly a member of the LGBTQIA community. and we're on an Instagram live and somebody said, do you have a gay best friend, Jojo? And I said, yes, I do. And he's right here. And I give him a big hug and he ended the live stream. And I was like, that was weird. I didn't think twice of it. I thought maybe I hugged him funny or thought maybe he got a text that was bad. I didn't know what happened. He doesn't talk to me for a day, doesn't talk to me for another day.

1:12:29Finally, I was like, you're my best friend and you're not speaking to me. What did I do? And he looked at me so earnestly. He said, you outed me on Instagram Live. And I said, hold on. And he said, I'm not out. He said, the world, people, my family doesn't know I'm gay. And you outed me. And immediately, I, A, felt so horrible. Because that is queer family 101. You do not out somebody until they are ready. And even then, you let them out themselves. And then, you know, you support. That's number one rule. Do not out somebody until they are ready. but number two I immediately went into quick I'm sorry mode but right after that it was what's going on why why do you feel like you have to be in this closet why can your family not know why and he said he he said I'm afraid for my job I really want to be on Dancing with the Stars but I don't think I can if I'm gay you're you know a star and you're a celebrity and it's different and he was just about to come out in June for Pride Month and at that point then everything had went back to square one because he was told your job will be in jeopardy by somebody he was very close to and so I told him I said ask I said ask the main producer ask tell her tell her who you are and ask and I guarantee she knows who you are and I guarantee it's gonna be fine he said you really think so and I said I promise I promise and I said and if not I will make a TV show and You will be the star of it, okay?

1:14:00Right. And so he did. And she replied with the exact message she should have. And it was beautiful. And he came out, and he's the first in America openly gay pro. Wow. And he is a fucking icon, especially now after being a first pro. He was paired. He had a very controversial pairing for his first season. And everyone loves him. He's one of the most social media famous now from the show, and it's been one season. and he did it and that was another case of a big network being big and scary yes and whether that be a big network that's big and scary or a family member or a friend I promise there is this beautiful big community with big open arms waiting to give you the biggest hug that's a powerful story I appreciate you sharing that and I can't imagine how you felt in the moment but what you've done you helped to give him the confidence and it's it's interesting because him and I, we say we're like husband and wife because we have gone through the ringer.

1:14:59We have not spoken to each other for six months at a time being mad at each other, not just like, oh, we drifted. Sure. But we've also, like he was on my last text today before I went into the Big Brother house. Like he is my fucking blood. I love this man. And like I even tell like my friends or my family or him too. I'm like, yeah, he's a dingus sometimes, but like he's my boy. But yeah. That couldn't live without him. That's how you know you have love. So this is interesting. You said Ezra was one of the last texts today. Yeah. But I can guarantee you the last text was your current partner.

1:15:30It was. It was. Can you speak just a little bit on this? Because I think the U.S., if this relationship continues, right, the U.S. could lose you. What do you mean? I mean, well, where does your partner live? Australia. Yeah, this is what I'm saying. Oh, you're saying I can move. I think you can move. I think you can move for love. There is there's there's a lot at stake, obviously. But I first of all, I have the most amazing, beautiful partner. They are an incredible human being who I don't know how I snagged them at all. Don't know. But it's one of those things that they don't want me to drop everything I have here and run there.

1:16:12And I don't want them to drop everything we run there. And, you know, say one day we have kids together. I want I want my kids to know my partner's family. and my partner wants their kids to know my family. You know what I mean? And so we're in a beautiful, beautiful place where they like America, I like Australia. We're down. So you just go back and forth? Yeah. But how do you manage that? Because I always say that, you know, the most important thing in a long distance relationship is to have a date when the distance ends. Yeah. Do you have a date when the distance ends? We have ever, ever changing.

1:16:42You know what I mean? We have our when we're going to see each other next. We try to never, like, end seeing each other without knowing when the next time will be, whether that be months or weeks or days. I don't know. I think communication is a beautiful thing. And we're lucky we live in a world of FaceTime and a world of texts and calls. And we're also just, like, with Kath, like, I just trust them beyond trust. And it's such a, like, yeah, that's my partner. That's your partner. I don't worry. I don't worry about that. So you are in love. super super super i yeah i i called when i said goodbye to them at the airport to come here i called my mom as soon as i left them and i said mom i'm really in love with them because i've never said goodbye like that where i mean i've had my meltdowns i'd struggle saying goodbye to things because i enjoy the moment so much that then saying goodbye i'm i'm the type that's like I know I'm never going to get this moment back.

1:17:43I really struggle saying goodbye. But that goodbye, there was something about it that just felt special. Yeah. And how does it feel to be loved? It feels like no matter what goes on, no matter if I succeed or I fail, if I win, if I lose, if I'm happy or if I'm sad, if I'm mad or if I'm nice, it doesn't matter. it feels like I always have an open arm that I can fall into and I can lay a shoulder that I can lean on and even if I piss them off so much I can still lay my head on their shoulder and they will still wrap their arms around me it feels so unconditional you know I think you have lots of forms of love in your life but there's something to be said about an unconditional romantic love yes and I I think even if I've had other loves, I think I've had one other, my first unconditional romantic love.

1:18:42I feel like that was a very real love. And maybe I've had other loves, right? But I think that unconditional love is something that's very, very hard to come by. I'm with you. There's something special with romantic, unconditional love. There really is. But, you know, Jojo, when I look at your life so far, which is so, you're so young. It's so weird. You're so young. I'm a baby. Right, you are a baby. Literally, you're a baby. But when I look at your life, I question, what would you be without your mom? Honestly, can I be really honest? Let's say I was really young and something happened to my mom.

1:19:24I'd be a neurosurgeon. 100%. My dad is in the medical industry. He's a chiropractor. And that's my other passion in life. and this career, I always say I'm not doing it without my mom. I couldn't do it without her and I don't want to do it without her. And so, you know, the JoJo Siwa that the world knows will live on until either I'm gone or she's gone. And then it might be at the drop of a hat that you just never hear from me again publicly because then I have my little bubble of my family and my friends and, you know, I'll still do what I want to do with the world, but this career, it would be impossible without her.

1:19:59It's pitcher-catcher. and everything goes back to pitch or catch her. I don't know who would fill her spot. She just does a bit of it all. She makes this outfit to sending me the last video that I see. You know what I mean? She does it all. She made this outfit? Yeah. Are you serious? Yeah. That's what I mean. I'm not doing it without her. I will be naked. I will literally be everywhere naked. I can't do it. Yeah. She's a super woman. But I think that if I never had her, I still have a big passion for medicine. It's a big thing that I want to do. I want to build a hospital one day and put my money into that.

1:20:34Like that's a very big passion in my life. But I think my dad would have been really good nurturing that side of my life. But my mom was better at nurturing this side. So it was either creative or doctor. Yeah. That was it. Yeah. Even now, like I still have the conversations with my partner and my family and they're like, you can literally go to med school if you want. You're young enough. Yes. I'm like, yeah, I'm good. But like it's still passion. There's a different way. Yeah. I mean, you have plenty of time. Plenty of time. You have plenty of time. What is your dream? My dream to have babies.

1:21:06I just want to be a mom.

1:21:10Stunned you with that one. You didn't think I was taking it there. You know what? I didn't think you were taking it there. Yeah. But I've heard you mention this. Yeah. And I see that this is something that you don't just say. No. You truly are passionate about being a mom. Why so? I don't know. I've had a very maternal instinct, no joke, for a very long time. Since I was like 12, 13, I've always had a maternal instinct. And it got very strong when I was 17, 18, 16, 17, 18. I think the most important thing is a mutual respect. I think a lot of times it's very easy for children to have respect for their parents when they're young.

1:21:51then all of a sudden you become a teenager and you start to learn what respect is and I think where a lot of times it goes wrong is parents don't give respect to the teenager and so then the teenager realizes well then why should I give respect to you fair absolutely fair you know what I mean I think respect is something that you know is mutual and I think that being friends with your kids is a beautiful thing yes you want your kids to tell you their secrets you want to keep your kids safe. You want to go to ice cream with your kids. You want to bring your kid to work. You want your kid to want to come to work.

1:22:24Yeah. You know this party that I was talking about on Saturday? Yeah. My sons were with me. Yep. There you go. This is what I say. I think that it's interesting. When I was growing up, I think there was a big line between being a friend to your child. Right. But I've reached a point where, you know, my son is one of my best friends. Yeah. And I can see that's the type of parenting you would provide. Yep. All right. I only have two more topics because you have to get out of here. What do you want viewers to learn from you? Viewers of this or viewers from Big Brother? Viewers of Big Brother to learn from you.

1:23:04That I'm genuine. I think a lot of people see my past career and they think, fake. You know what I mean? Like, you're not nice. You know what I mean? Like, I think a lot of, a lot of my friends who are in the industry also will be like, how are you not crazy? How are you not super selfish? How are you not, like people struggle to realize that about me when I, when I first meet them. And I don't know, I think I'm excited for people to get to see the human side of me and to see the side of me that's, you know, chilling. Sure. I'm chilling and I'm genuine and I care about people and I will get anyone a band-aid yes I don't care if they say they hate the ground my mom walks on I will tell them to shut the fuck up and I will walk and get them a band-aid yeah I can see it I love that's going to stay with me the band-aid is going to stay with me yeah what do you believe is most misunderstood about you oh man a lot of people think that there was always you know or someone telling me what to do, or someone doing it for me.

1:24:06And that's always super frustrating because it's like, no, dude, like I did it all myself. Yes, I had a big network, and yes, I had my mom, but when it comes to YouTube videos and editing and filming and stuff like that, it was all me. Coming up with what I did, it was all me. Picking out my outfits, all me, you know what I mean? That's a big. And it was you. It was all me. So this transition between the young JoJo and the older JoJo, there was some controversy around that. But you made those decisions. You decided. So the last year of my life is the only time when it was different. The last year from karma to about three months ago.

1:24:48Really? That's the only time it's been different. And I've, you know, listened to outside opinions and gone certain ways and done certain things that maybe I wouldn't have necessarily done. Choices I wouldn't have necessarily made. but I did and I trusted because I wanted to do essentially what my boss said I had a bit of a breakdown and I cried and I said why am I pretending that I'm drinking alcohol and being crazy I'm a good girl I'm saying I'm drinking Fireball on stage but it's apple juice so a lot of those decisions over the last year around your brain wasn't you it's been guided and it's been honestly I'll be honest karma karma was me I wanted to do that I want to do that song I want to do that dance I want to do that makeup I like that everything after the day karma was released was not me wow and that's very tough because I look back at my last year of my life and I think whoa it could be so different I could be in a way different place now but if I was in a way different place now I wouldn't be on big brother I wouldn't have met my partner you know I mean there's so many beautiful things in my life that But they'd be so different if I wouldn't have made changes.

1:25:57So I'm happy I did. So then three months ago, what changed? You made changes? I realized that I was in control for the first time again. Okay. But I was still acting as if I wasn't. Okay. And it was interesting. I was kind of being guided everywhere, and I just needed to stop. And I just needed to have a beat. And then this beautiful song fell into my lap. that is a song saying exactly how I feel right now. And as soon as I get out of the Big Brother house, I literally have a day, and then I go into rehearsals for the music video for that song. And it was very important to me that that was the message that I shared because it's, for the first time again, exactly how I feel.

1:26:37So you're leading once again, which I think that's the right zone for you. And I'm finally with a song, you know, not singing about I'm happy, I'm positive, I'm on top of the world, I feel great. It's not a song about that. It's a song about the opposite. So it's like JoJo Siwa's not a bad girl. She's a good girl. JoJo Siwa's a bit, a bit, a bit vulnerable. JoJo Siwa's not bulletproof. JoJo Siwa can feel sometimes. and this is what it looks like. Okay, okay. Last question then. Everyone gets this. You've had some incredible conversations in your very short life. Yeah. When you think back to the most memorable, what was that conversation?

1:27:28Who was it with and what did you learn? It was with Elton John. Of course it was. And Sacha Baron Cohen. Of course it was. And they were having a discussion about the Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody. And I was in Elton John's dressing room with Sasha Baron Cohen, and they were talking about the movie. And I wasn't really listening to what they were saying because I was frozen. And Elton says something like, yeah, the guy in the movie, the actor, Rami, you know, he didn't do the vocals. Who sang? Who sang? And they were talking about this for like three minutes. Sasha's like, what was his name? Like, first of all, Google it.

1:28:03Second of all, I'm standing there and I am the number one fan. I've seen this movie. We rented out the theater because at this point in my life, I couldn't go to a movie theater and it was too haptic. So I would, we would rent out the theater and we rented out 14 times to see this movie. It was my life. It changed. You rented out the theater 14 times. It changed everything for me, that movie. I mean, I studied it. I could give you the whole two hours of the movie right now if you wanted it. Like it is, it's the only thing that made me sing live was that movie and falling in love with Freddie Mercury and all of that.

1:28:32It's the reason why I performed with a mic stick, just like Freddie did to honor that love. yeah it's beautiful honestly what that movie did for me but I'm the number one fan of it and they're talking about it I say to my mom it's Mark Martell the guy they're trying to name and my mom was like what and I was like and I literally I couldn't help it because they were like what's his name what's his name I was like it's Mark Martell and they were like they both turned around and were like what and I was like I'm so sorry I wasn't eavesdropping but I totally was eavesdropping The name you guys are trying to think of, it's Mark Martell.

1:29:09That's who did the vocals in the movie. And Elton John said, join us. And he scooted over on the couch, and I sat in between them, and now it's Elton, Sasha, and me, and we're having a chit-chat about the McQueen movie now because Elton and Freddie were obviously very good friends. And, yeah, crazy. So that conversation is memorable. Is it because of who it was, the topic, all the above, or anything else? It was because these absolute legends had no reason to include me as a 15-year-old. No reason. They didn't need to. They were buddies. But I felt included. And I felt important in a room that I should feel super not important.

1:29:49You're with Elton John and Sacha Baron Cohen. You know what I mean? Yes. And, yeah. I don't know. It's just also just cool. I got to teach them something. Like, as a 15-year-old, you'd think that's cool. But that's for sure the most memorable. Absolutely. You know, I will say this is that I keep going back to you've achieved so many things, interacted with so many people. But what is clear is that you are just at the beginning. You know, you're just at the start. It's crazy because sometimes when people say that to me and I'm in a good place now, right now where I'm taking that the right way, where I'm like, thank you.

1:30:23Like that means a lot. You know what I would say. Yes. But sometimes people say that to me in a negative context. Oh, interesting. And I literally, I sometimes want to be like, bitch, I'm 12 years deep in this. There's no way I'm still at the beach. Oh, because they're saying that you haven't. They're like, you're just getting started. And I'm like, no, I'm not. It's almost in a context of like, oh, you have so much to learn. And I'm like, bitch, no, no. I have done more TV shows than years you've been alive. I have written more songs than years you've been alive. I have fired more people than you have years been alive.

1:31:02Okay. Yes. Like I, oh, that, when it's in that context, it drives me nuts. But the context that you're saying it in. Yeah. Yeah. I'm saying like you've made incredible impact. Thank you. Like the, the, the age range, the, the, the demographics, the, the years, the youngest to sell out the O2 at 16 years old. Come on now. It's like all of these things are incredible, but I'm saying that you are going to achieve even more incredible feats going forward. That means so much. It really does. Yeah. I appreciate this conversation. I appreciate you. It was a beautiful conversation. I wish you the best in this house.

1:31:35Thank you. Stay tuned. Tune in. But we got to get you out of here because we got to get you to the house. I don't know what time it is, but I'm like, it's got to be almost house time. It's right on time. Burke. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you.

1:31:50Look at this. We got Kingston joining us today. I have not seen this Jojo that we saw today. She came in with the highest level of energy that I have seen thus far from any of our guests. And you could say she was performing in one sense. But then as we got to the conversation, I could see that's part of her. You know, that's part of her nature is to she knows how to turn it up. But today you saw a different tone. I was shocked at how challenged she felt about this last year. I don't think she's been pleased with the direction of her career. So I was surprised.

1:32:35You're good at this. Oh, my gosh. This guy said, I'm coming for your chair, Dad. What surprised me the most? She still is very conscious about how the public feels about her. The comments hurt, and she considers them. And I think that it's something that we always have to be conscious of. She has been ridiculed. She's been name-called. But yet she shows up every day trying to fight against that storm. And I think ultimately, and this seems like such a simple message, but it's so profound, is be kind. You know, not only be kind to those around us and those in your family and those of your friends, but be kind to these online personalities and these stars and these celebrities because they do read the comments.

1:33:29They do take in that information into their life, and it does shape their psyche. So be kind. The odds are that she is going to win, Big Brother. That's what the betting odds are. We'll see.