After telling fans on social media that he’s part of the LGBTQ+ community, American Idol alum David Archuleta is opening up about his struggle to come out.
In an exclusive interview that aired Wednesday on ABC’s Good Morning America, David, 30, said sharing his news makes him feel as though a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.
“I think I was a lot more scared before,” he told ABC News’ Steve Osunsami. “Because I always felt there was something that I had to keep to myself. There’s so much relief to not feel like you have to hide a part of yourself, like a secret.”
The singer, a devout Mormon, told fans on Instagram that he came out as gay to his family seven years ago, but had similar feelings for both genders. He tells ABC that his 2012 trip to South America to complete his missionary service was the first time he was honest with himself about his sexuality, but accepting it wasn’t easy.
“I was praying, like ‘God, you can do all things. You are a God of miracles…’ And I thought if I do everything I’m supposed to, maybe he can change me as well,” David recalled. “So I would say, ‘Please take these feelings away from me because I don’t want to…feel things I shouldn’t. I don’t want to feel things that would be wrong.’”
“So that’s been the process: I’ve had to learn how to love myself, even when I don’t understand why I’m the way I am but to learn that’s how God has created me,” he added, noting, “There’s so many millions of other people who’ve gone through the same thing as me where they’ve tried to change who they are.”
Since coming out, David said he’s shared his truth with a few leaders in the Mormon Church and hasn’t felt rejected.
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