Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles -My next guest is a dancer, singer, actress, and social-media superstar. I mean, seriously superstar. She has 32 million followers on TikTok and over 12 million subscribers on her YouTube channel. She works hard. She deserves it. She's currently working on a new project that she is announcing tonight. I can't wait. Here is Jojo Siwa! -Hey! I'm so excited! Thank you for having me. -Welcome back. Thanks for being here. I know it's over zoom, but we appreciate it. We have so much to talk about. -We do. -One of the things I love about you and your fans love about you is that you are always yourself. You're always you. -Yes. -And you're always leading by example and spreading positivity, very positive. -Thank you. -And you continue to do that now more than ever. Two weeks ago, you posted this. You opened up about being part of the LGBTQ community, and immediately, love started pouring in from all over the world. How does it feel? Where were you in your head at the time? -It was the most insane thing ever. I mean, literally everyone and their brother messaged me, called me, texted me, sent me an Instagram message, tweeted me. It was the most love, I think, I've ever received, and the coolest thing about it was it was just by me showing the world the last little piece of me that they haven't seen yet, and it was really awesome. -Did you plan on doing it? -So, that's actually what's funny about it. So, I was doing TikToks with the people who are in the Pride House. That's, like, what their TikTok house is called, is the Pride House. And I love them. I've known them all for years, and so we were like, "Let's just do some TikToks together before I leave for Canada." And they come over, and we're doing this TikTok, and I was like, "I think this TikTok that we're doing to 'Ain't It Fun,'" I was like, "I think this is gonna out me." And I was like, "I don't really mind, because it is true." I do have the most amazing, wonderful, perfect most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world. It's not something I'm ashamed of. I just haven't shown the Internet yet. And there's always been speculations, of course, but so then I was like, "I think this is gonna out me." So then I posted that -- they posted that, and, of course, it did, and people started commenting -- and people started commenting to me, "Is this you coming out? Like, is this you coming out? What is this? What is this?" So I was like, "You know what I can do? I can either mess with them and, like, tease a little bit, I could either confirm it, because it is true, or I can just kind of do nothing about it and just kind of leave it there." And I was like, "I want to do a TikTok to 'Born This Way.'" 'Cause it is true. I don't really want to be like, "Yeah, it's true," right away, but I was like, "I want people to know that, like, it's okay." So I did this TikTok to "Born This Way," and everyone was like, "Whoa! This is her coming out! This is her coming out! This is the moment!" And I was like, "I..." And then, my cousin had gotten me that shirt. I took that picture like a week before I posted it, and I actually -- I put it on my close friend's Instagram story, and all my friends know, all my family knows. And then, one day, I was on FaceTime with my girlfriend. This is the day after I posted the "Born This Way" TikTok. And I was on FaceTime with her, and we were just talking about it and talking about all the love that came in, and we were both like, "Technically, I still haven't confirmed it." And so I was like, "I kind of want to post this picture on my real story." And she was super encouraging. She was like, "Do it." and I was like, "All right!" And I did it. And the funny thing is, is 10 minutes before I did that, you can only imagine the press storm that was happening. I mean, it was insane. -Yeah. And 10 minutes before I posted that, my publicist was like, "So, are you gonna confirm it?" and I was like, "No, I'm not gonna confirm it yet." 10 minutes later, I post that picture and start texting her. I was like, "Hey. So about not confirming it, go look at my story." -"It's out." Did you -- Did you -- Did you put your phone down? Because you probably go like... Either way, you're gonna get feedback. You're gonna get good stuff, and you're gonna get bad stuff. -Totally. -And you know it's gonna start a conversation. -Yeah. -And you're like, "Once I press this button..." -There's no going back. -Yes. -My thing with "coming out" is it can be a very scary thing, you know? Of course not everybody in the world is going to accept it right now, but there are so many people that are going to accept it right now. And like I say, even if there's a million people -- say there's a million people -- that's a lot of people that don't accept it, there's 100 million that do. And I think that's something really important. 100 million is a lot of people, and so always keep that in mind. But, also, I was like, "I don't want it to have to be such a big thing." Like, what am I gonna do? Like, have a coming-out party? No, it's just who I am. And so, after I posted it, I was just kind of like, "All right! I'll do it." Like, I was on the phone spontaneous, like, 'cause she -- we're long-distance, and so I was like, "All right, I did it." Back to FaceTiming with her. And then it was like two days later, I was again on the phone. We're on the phone literally 24/7. Both of our families get so annoyed at us, but it's okay. It doesn't matter. But I was like, "You know what I realized? How risky that was." And she was like, "Well, what do you mean?" And I was like, "Well, technically, that was a really big risk that I took posting that." But I was like, "But honestly --" And she's like, "Why? Because you could've lost everything?" And I was like, "Yeah. But if I lost everything that I've created because of being myself and because of loving who I want to love, I don't want it. That's not what I want if I can't love who I want to love." That's one of the most important things to me. And it was about 10 minutes before I came out to do this interview today, I was again on the phone with my girl, and I started crying. And she's like, "What's wrong with you?" And I was like, "I'm just so happy." I was like, "Because now I get to share what makes me the happiest with the world, and it makes my heart so happy." -There's a lot to be happy about. I want to congratulate you, because you were named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Now, you are 17 years old and one of the most influential people on the planet. -Crazy. -How does it feel, and do you feel different? -Isn't that crazy? I mean, it is insane. I don't feel different. I mean, nothing changed, but I guess I didn't really realize what a big deal it was until I actually saw the list and saw the other people that were on it, and then I was like, "Whoa. Like, this is a huge honor." And, I mean, it's insane, and I'm so thankful, and I'm so grateful. Actually, something funny that came from it is, we created a new game in my family and my close friends. So, my best friend, Nate, we made a game where I try to influence people to do something. And it's the smallest things. So, say we have a whole bunch of pizzas, and I'll be like, to somebody, I'll be like, "Oh, my gosh. Yeah, the cheese is good, but the pepperoni, you gotta try the pepperoni." And if I get them to do it, Nate and I look at each other, and we're like, "Time 100, baby! Up top!" -"That's how influential I am. Look at how influential -- He doesn't even like pepperoni." -We try. We try so hard, and it works. And it's -- well, all the time, we're like, "Top 100, baby.