JoJo Siwa is out—and very proud.
The dancer is opening up about her appreciation for her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series character Madison, who is openly queer. Siwa made her guest-starring debut in Sept. 7's episode of the series, in which Madison, a Camp Shallow Lake alum, returns to the summer camp to visit ex-girlfriend Maddox (Saylor Bell Curda). When she found out who, exactly, she'd be playing, Siwa realized it would be a turning point in her career.
"I've never played a gay character—besides myself, and I'm not a character, I'm just myself, but that's that's how it looks to the world," Siwa told Entertainment Weekly Sept. 7. "But this is so straightforward: Madison is a queer human. I think it's really special getting to know that kids are going to watch this and not be like, 'She's queer? What's that?' They're going to be like, 'She's queer. Cool.' I love that the next generation just kind of [moves past] it versus it being a weird thing."
Siwa first came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in January 2021. Less than a month later, she went public with her relationship with Kylie Prew; after being on-again, off-again, the two confirmed their break-up in Aug. 2022. She was also part of the first same-sex couple to compete on Dancing With the Stars, ultimately coming in second place in 2021.
Siwa—who's been a fan of High School Musical since childhood—said she wishes she had seen a queer character on-screen while growing up.
"I think it would have made me realize that it's okay a lot younger. It's normal," she said. "It took me a while to really be comfortable with that. I didn't really realize that it's okay until I was like 17. I didn't really realize that it was okay—I always thought with other people it was okay."
She revealed that she would always joke around with her older brother, asking him if he was gay—because deep down, she thought that would make it okay for her, too.
But, by playing Madison on HSMTMTS, Siwa said fans will get to see more of her personality.
"You'll get to see a fun side to me, a little flirty side of me," she revealed. "You haven't seen JoJo like this before. Madison—you could say she's still in love with Maddox. They're definitely broken up, but there's still some tension between the two of them. I don't know what their future is, but the storyline between the two of them really has so much room to grow."
Season three of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series drops new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.