Andrew Gillum comes out as bi-sexual in exclusive 'Tamron Hall' interview
Article By Laurel Matthews // EEW Magazine Online // News
Andrew Gillum, who said he was driven into a deep depression and drank heavily after losing his Democratic candidacy for governor of Florida in 2018, revealed in a new interview that he identifies as bisexual.
"I don't identify as gay, but I do identify as bisexual, and that is something that I have never shared publicly before," the 41-year-old politician who was found intoxicated by police in a Miami hotel room with two other men in February told journalist Tamron Hall in a candid interview on her eponymously named talk show.
Andrew and R. Jai Gillum speaking with Tamron Hall.
Courtesy of Tamron Hall
Before the emotional sit-down aired on the season premiere of Tamron Hall Monday, Gillum, a married father of three, said he was ashamed but had entered rehab and was on a healing journey. However, before his exclusive interview, he did not directly address swirling questions about his sexuality despite growing speculation and widespread ridicule.
"Everyone believes the absolute worst about that day. At this stage, I don't have anything else to have to conceal," Gillum told Hall, 49, though he did not elaborate about what his intentions were for going to the hotel room in the first place.
"I literally got broken down to my most bare place, to the place where I wasn't even sure that I wanted to live, not because of what I had done but because of everything that was being said about me,” he said.
Andrew Gillum with his wife and three children
Courtesy of Andrew Gillum
After a naked photograph of an inebriated Gillum, who has been married to his wife R. Jai Gillum since 2009, was circulated by a British tabloid, he was rumored to be a gay man refusing to reveal his true sexual identity for fear of losing his political position – something he called “hurtful.”
"What was most hurtful was this belief that I was somehow living a lie in my marriage and in my family. That was the most hurtful to me, because I believe we are all entitled to mistakes, and I believe we are entitled to those mistakes without having every other respectable and redeeming part of our lives invalidated,” he said.
R. Jai Gillum told Hall that "love and sexuality exist on a spectrum” and her only concern “is what’s between us and what agreement do we make to be in a relationship with each other.”
She continued, “I don’t think it’s anyone’s business,” adding, “I don’t think it’s fair to people who are not heterosexual or not assumed heterosexual, they should ever have to say or disclose what they are because of how judgmental people are.”
Gillum, whose marital infidelity marred his previously pristine reputation, explained to Hall in clip she aired after the show, “Bisexuality in and of itself doesn’t lead to unfaithfulness. There are men who are in marriages with women, who, just because they’re married to a woman, doesn’t mean they’re no longer attracted to other women and at any point in time can slip up, make a mistake, do something, and that is what it is.”
He said the same is true in bisexual relationships.
“You can be attracted to both. You’ve got a bigger terrain out there that you have to contend with, but you can still choose to physically be with one person. That’s a choice that all of us in our marriages and committed relationships have to deal with,” he said.
It is unclear what the future holds for Gillum who was the mayor of Tallahassee before running for governor. As it stands now, he appears to be most interested in working on himself and his family.
View clips of his interview with Tamron Hall below.
