Jason Mraz calls coming out a 'divorce' from his former self: 'You carry a lot of shame'
Jason Mraz is opening up about the "shame" and "guilt" that followed him while coming out as bisexual in 2018.
The "I'm Yours" singer, 46, told GLAAD in an interview shared Monday that before coming to a point of acceptance, he "had to play out a lot of other scenarios before I arrived here."
"It’s both hard to do those and hard to unravel those, and what I’m basically describing is a divorce, you know?" he said. "And that’s very hard. You carry a lot of shame, guilt."
Mraz revealed in a 2018 interview with Billboard that he had had sexual relationships with men while dating Christina Carano, whom he married in 2015. The musician announced their divorce at his album launch in June earlier this year, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Speaking to GLAAD, he added: "You want to heal as many relationships of the past as possible and at the same time, step into this new acceptance and new identity or whatever I’m claiming, and that’s also hard."
Mraz, who is included in Out Magazine's Out100 list, said being included is "nice to be acknowledged."
The singer, who is currently competing on Season 32 of "Dancing With the Stars," further opened up about how the show has helped him on his journey of acceptance.
"All day you’re looking at yourself in the mirror, and that can be hard for anybody, any human, to accept themselves looking in the mirror," he said, adding that the movements can feel "silly" but "it eventually becomes confidence, and so it is a journey."
Mraz concluded, "Dance is an amazing medium for that transformation and accepting of one’s self."
The singer released a dance album "Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride" in June, which was inspired by his queer identity.
"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. And growing up around homophobia and feeling like I needed to protect some secret," he told The Advocate in August.
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Working on his art brought him "closer and closer to being myself," he said.
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."
Jason Mraz gets candid about his sexuality and his experiences with men
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jason Mraz on coming out as bisexual, accepting himself amid 'shame'
