Queer pop icon JoJo Siwa has opened up about the backlash she experienced from the LGBTQ+ community when she announced she was dating a man.

Siwa began dating English TV personality Chris Hughes after the couple appeared together as contestants on ITV’s Celebrity Big Brother UK. The pair formed a close bond, while Siwa, who was then dating nonbinary actor and DJ Kath Ebbs, also admitted on the show that she was more comfortable identifying as queer than as a lesbian.

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The relationship sparked backlash from many queer people who felt Siwa had betrayed the community by being with man. During an appearance on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, Siwa opened up about dealing with that.

“It is hard because it feels like my own family has turned a little bit. And I think we are the LGBTQIA+ family, not the LG community, and it’s a beautiful rainbow, and the number one saying of the queer community is love is love. And that goes both ways.”

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“Anybody who is judging somebody else for any sort of love, just take a second, take a breath,” she added.

“You can’t help love,” she said.

She also said she’s been bullied since her relationship went public and has never been more afraid of a group than she currently is of LGBTQ+ people she doesn’t know. “Women holding hands, women cuddling together in public, I see them see me and I see them laugh, I see them point, I see them roll their eyes now. I see them come up to me and take a photo and run away.”

“I see them flip me off while I’m driving. I see them. Someone the other day came and stood outside my studio with the middle finger up for about two minutes, and then just walked away – from within the queer community, and that to me has made me so aware, I guess, of how brutal hate can be and how brutal bullying can be… People need to watch it. Because I can take it, but other people can’t.”

She said she doesn’t think too hard about labels but would probably define herself as pansexual or queer.

“I would define myself as happy,” she added, saying she has never been so in love.

“I cannot describe the feeling of love that I have now.”

Siwa emphasized that the bi and pan erasure she is experiencing is not affecting her since she is able to tune it out, but said it is affecting others who are witnessing the backlash. The reaction is teaching people they can’t veer from strict labels without being bullied, she explained.

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