Nick Jonas has been in the public eye for 10 years now, continuously dealing with tabloid rumors and speculation, and yet sometimes they still get to him.
Case in point: the "gay baiting" critics who accuse him of using the LGBT community to gain more fame.
He covers the June/July 2016 issue of OUT magazine and opens up about the sting surrounding that type of negative attention. "It's not the majority, but a large handful have a negative opinion for whatever reason," he says. "And I think it's really quite sad."
It's sad because Nick's done quite a bit of work within the LGBT community, including raising awareness by playing several gay characters in some of his latest roles.
Discussing his character Nate (who is grappling with masculinity and a conservative family) in Kingdom, Nick says, "It's been a great character to play. One that I try to be respectful of and take myself out of. He's on his own path."
To prepare for the role, he spoke to some of his closest gay friends about coming out while dealing with their own conservative families. "It was a good way to research," says Jonas, "to kind of build the character with some elements of real life."
He is also careful to incorporate real life into his musical work, too. On the topic of his latest album, he explains how his breakup with Olivia Culpo really inspired the music.
"With this one I made a real point to tell stories as honestly as I could," Jonas tells the publication. "It became very clear what it was going to be about, after the breakup. I just dove in headfirst and wrote about all of it. I think it was the most meaningful relationship I've ever been in, and it was the longest."
Though he finds release talking about his love life through his music, he still struggles in understanding the public's obsession with his relationships.
"It definitely sucks. It sort of feels like, on top of dealing with the situation with the person, you have to be thinking about other people's opinion about it, and without all the information."
And this is something he (creepily) had to start dealing with at a very young age, too. "The fact that people were intrigued by a 14– or 15-year-old's relationships was strange to me," he says. "Now I think it makes a bit more sense. I think it's kind of amusing, people's interests. But it's funny, because I think I live a pretty low-key life."
Check out his full interview with OUT magazine here.