Magic Johnson Emotionally Reveals When He Found Out His Son Was Gay: “I Saw Early On He’s Playing With Dolls, Like To Play Dress-Up…” – msnNOW
Magic Johnson opens up on the signals he saw before realizing his son was gay.
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Magic Johnson has had a very busy life, from his days in college to his NBA tenure and everything that happened between that and the things he had to live after calling it a career. The Los Angeles Lakers legend is way more mature now than he was before and you can see he’s a very wise man whenever he speaks about serious life issues.
Magic has had to deal with some serious stuff during his life and he’s always trying to make the best decision for himself and those around him. Just like in his professional life, his personal life presented some challenges to Magic. The 5-time NBA champion has admitted he had a difficult time accepting that his son Earvin Johnson III was gay, but he eventually learned a big lesson thanks to that.
Let’s recall that Magic grew up in a different time and he may have different points of view about the world, but the Lakers legend never let his son down and always supported him through the good and the bad.
Magic Johnson Emotionally Reveals When He Found Out His Son Was Gay
During his recent interview with Shannon Sharpe, Magic spoke about this situation and how he realized his son was gay. When he wondered if EJ was gonna play sports as he did, he found out that his son had different interests.
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“In the beginning, I was like any other dad. ‘Oh, I’m gonna get him in sports,’ right? And so when we start, first soccer, and then football, he like [disagrees with the head], and then you know, I saw early on, he’s playing with dolls, he likes to play dress-up, but then if I come in, he would hide all that. But I saw it. I think, as he got older and older, you start seeing it, but he never said anything. So I think he was trynna keep it from me, and then finally, he felt strong enough that he could finally tell me.
“And so, he made me change. It wasn’t he who had to adjust, I had to adjust. And I finally told him. I said, ‘let me tell you something, you’re my son. I love you. I don’t care, if you want to be a gay man, I’m supporting that. I’m supporting you.’ And when he finally announced it to the world, I saw all the letters that came in around the world, that he affected all these other young people who wanted to come out to their parents and gave them the strength to do it. So, now we’re like best of friends. And I tell him all the time, ‘I’m so proud of you. Live your life just like I’m living my life. Love who you want to love. Dad is going to support you all the way.’ So it was really beautiful and he cried, he needed to hear that, because some of his friends didn’t get that support.
“We all gotta love our children no matter what they decide to… And support them because they need that. They need to know that you love them, that you support whatever decision they make, or whoever they decide to love or like, you gotta support that. And that’s what I’ve been able to do…”
It’s really cool to see how Magic handled this situation and how maturely he acted in front of his son. This is a personal decision for everybody but it’s really important to have the support of the people you love and care about. Johnson is well aware of that and he made sure to let his son know he would never be alone.
Magic had to face judgment during his life, too, especially after he announced he was infected with HIV. Johnson even revealed that another legend, Karl Malone, was really against the idea of playing against him in the NBA.
It’s been quite a journey for Magic, but he’s learned his lessons along the way, becoming a wise man and dad, and trying to spread a positive message to the world whenever he can.