Tevin Campbell has opened up about his sexuality for the first time in his career.
Formerly referred to as the “next Michael Jackson,” the 45-year-old singer was discovered by JLo’s manager Benny Medina when he was 12.
Tevin was successful with his first two albums and starred in the 1995 film A Goofy Movie as Powerline. Later, he starred in the Broadway production of Hairspray./
In a tweet he deleted earlier this year, Tevin hinted that he was gay, and now he is finally getting around to talking about his life as a gay man.While growing up in the music industry, Tevin said that he never tried to hide anything about himself while he was growing up in the industry. The only thing I did was not try to act in a certain way or anything like that. There was no way you could be [gay] back then.”
As soon as Tevin joined the cast of Hairspray in 2004, things started to change for him. It was a pleasure to be around people like me, LGBTQ+ individuals who lived ordinary lives and had partners. “I had never seen anything like that before,” he said. It was a wonderful time in my life at that time.
Tevin was asked about today’s young queer Black stars such as Lil Nas X and Frank Ocean. According to him, it was not like that in the 1990s. However, I am glad to have the opportunity to see it. I am pleased to see that this is changing. Especially young Black boys need to see representation. It is not being taught to them that they should love themselves for who they are.”
According to Tevin, when he tweeted that simple message earlier this year, it was just “something casual for me.” He added, “I love my fans, but it does not matter what they think about my sexuality.”