You may remember singer David Archuleta, 31, as the teen heartthrob on American Idol from the early aughts, but these days he has evolved into a changed man. During Tuesday’s episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, the former reality TV star got emotional when recalling his coming out story from June 2021 when speaking to the host, Jennifer Hudson, 41. “It’s been a process,” David began when asked how coming out has felt. “I grew up very religious, I grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – aka Mormons.” He then went on to reveal that he “almost got married several times” in order to follow the church’s path, but that ultimately he couldn’t “desire” his former partners in the way that they “wanted or deserved.”
The “Crush” singer then told Jennifer that because of what he was taught in his church, he previously thought that being LGBT meant that he had “evil” inside of him that would one day “explode” out of him. “One day I was just praying and got on my knees and I said God if you’re really there and if you really have a purpose for me just please take this from me please change me because I don’t want to be this way…I don’t want to be like this,” he said. David revealed that he believed that his higher power understood him and sent him back a meaningful message.
“I just basically heard what I understood, what was always God, told me ‘David you need to stop asking me this, you’re asking me the wrong thing because I don’t intend to change it. You’ve been spending over half of your life now praying about this, asking me to change something that I don’t intend to change because I created you like this,” the star added. The American Idol alum shared with the Dreamgirls actress that he is “learning how to love myself”, to which she responded, “that’s the important thing.”
David’s appearance on the show comes a year and a half after he came out publicly via Instagram on June 12, 2021. “I came out in 2014 as gay to my family. But then I had similar feelings for both genders so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also have learned I don’t have too much sexual desires and urges as most people which works I guess because I have a commitment to save myself until marriage,” a portion of his caption read. “Idk what to make of it and I don’t have all the answers. I just invite you to please consider making room to be more understanding and compassionate to those who are LGBTQIA+, and those who are a part of that community and trying to find that balance with their faith which also is a huge part of their identity like myself.”
Nearly one year later, on June 11, David took to Instagram once more to celebrate the one year anniversary of his coming out. “A year ago I was pulling weeds and felt in my heart I needed to open up about something that before I always considered unthinkable. Unimaginable. Always considered my greatest fear. But that day I felt peace with myself. I wasn’t afraid anymore of who all of me meant. Even if that meant I liked guys,” he captioned the same selfie photo from the year prior. David competed on American Idol in 2008, when he was the runner up to the Season 7 winner David Cook. These days he continues to talk openly about his sexuality and also works on his music career, frequently sharing videos to his Instagram of his latest tracks.