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Louise Thomas
Editor
Jason Mraz has opened up about the reasons behind his reluctance to come out as a teenager.
The two-time Grammy winner, best known for his 2008 hit “I’m Yours”, reflected on hiding his sexuality out of fear of being judged by people in his hometown, during an episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast.
The 47-year-old, who grew up in Mechanicsville, Virginia, noted he grew up on a “conservative street”, and found it hard to break out of that culture.
“I was very shy and scared of what my family would say, or what my hometown would think or just whatever,” he explained.
“In the Nineties, being gay was like [the] punchline of a joke. and I didn’t want to be the punchline of a joke”.
The singer said he decided to keep a low profile until he figured out “ways I could instead get out and see the world one day.”
Though Mraz said he was fearful of judgement from those around him he added that he doesn’t “want to throw anybody under the bus because my parents are very supportive. I love them very much.”
In a 2018 interview with Billboard, Mraz revealed that he’d had sexual experiences with men in the past, including during his relationship with Christina Carano, whom he married in 2015 and divorced in 2023. He’s since said he is bisexual.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Mraz also told Ferguson that while he was a “late bloomer,” he feels “like my life is just starting.”
“Yeah, yeah. My experiences are few, whereas other people my age might be more experienced, that’s all,” he explained.
He described his past relationships as “amazing”, but admitted: “I can’t say that I have found love yet”.
“I love where I am and I feel so much love for myself finally that can only enhance the next relationship,” he added, “when I find one.”
The musician, who is currently touring the US with his 2023 dance album, Mystical Rhythmical Radical Ride.
Looking back at his back catalogue of music, he told The Advocate in August 2023 that he broadcasted himself as heterosexual via his music.
“I will admit that I probably spent the first close to 20 years of my career just broadcasting as hetero. Saying ‘girl’ in my songs, and a lot of that is growing up on a conservative street,” he said.
“And growing up around homophobia and feeling like I needed to protect some secret.”
He said that working on his art brought him “closer” towards being himself.
Mraz added: “I was having these curiosities and experiences on the side that were starting to influence who I am and the kind of fun I wanted to have in the world and the kind of person I wanted to be in the world, which is more honest and more loving and more inclusive.”
