Mariah Brown is opening up about her journey of coming to terms with her sexuality.
As you may know, the Sister Wives star told her family — a devout, fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon family, that is — she identifies as a lesbian in the latest episode of the TLC show.
In a new interview with People, Miz Brown admits she was once terrified of being gay, which ultimately made her become a self-proclaimed homophobe:
“It was something I was so scared of in myself. If you were to ask me my biggest fear, it would have been to be gay.”
Related: Sister Wives‘ Maddie Brown Is Expecting Her First Child!
These fears were instilled in her as a child because of her church’s strict stance on homosexuality:
“I remember being in church, and they talked about how being gay was bad. But none of that came from my parents. It was from church and the people I was around. One bishop told me gay people were selfish.”
Feeling ashamed, Mariah tried to slide her true feelings under the rug:
“People say they try to ├óΓé¼╦£pray away the gay,’ but I wouldn’t even let myself think the word. I just wouldn’t even go there.”
But, as we can imagine, the inner battle she was facing led to many sleepless nights and panic attacks. So sad.
It wasn’t until the TV personality went off to college that she was able to open up to the idea:
“That was sort of the start of realizing this is okay. My whole life I tried to shut it out. I was finally letting myself be real. I had this image I had to uphold, and when I started letting that go, I realized I didn’t have to be the person I thought I had to be.”
Amazing!!
And fortunately for Mariah, her very large family was super accepting of their daughter.
Her biological mother, Meri, said:
“I’m so proud of her for having the strength.”
Sister wife Robyn added:
“No matter what our religion says, what my heart says is that she is our daughter and she is a person and she has a right to her truth.”
We just love a happy ending!!!
Taking to Twitter, Mariah said of her story:
this is for all the kids who are scared & afraid to come out. it gets better & you are worth it. i promise. https://t.co/ej3IkLRk8x
— mariah (@mariahlian) January 4, 2017
Cosign!
[Image via Twitter.]
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