Heavy
A “Dancing With the Stars” semifinalist came out about his sexuality 15 years after divorcing his wife. In an August 7, 2023, interview with People, DWTS season 31 third-place finisher Wayne Brady came out as a person attracted to a variety of other people.
“I am pansexual,” the actor and television host told the outlet. “To me, pan means being able to be attracted to anyone who identifies as gay, straight, bi, transsexual or non-binary. Being able to be attracted across the board. And, I think, at least for me for right now, that is the proper place.”
“I took pan to mean that not only can I be attracted to any of these people or types physically, but I could be attracted to the person that is there,” Brady, 51, added.
Pansexuality is defined as someone who is attracted emotionally and/or physically to all genders, according to Rolling Stone.
Brady told People his daughter was the first person he came out to. He also said that he has never dated a man but has been attracted to men in the past. He explained his sexuality as “bisexual- with an open mind.”
Wayne Brady Was Married Twice & Has 1 Daughter
Brady, who is best known for his self-titled TV talk show and as host on “Let’s Make a Deal,” has been married two times and is a father of one.
The Emmy winner was first married to Diana Lasso from 1993 to 1995, when he was in his early 20s. In 1999, he wed actress Mandie Taketa and the two welcomed their daughter, Maile Masako Brady. Brayd’s second marriage ended in divorce in 2008.
“My first wife is a great person, but you should not be getting married when you’re 20 or 21 because you still don’t know yourself. I think the lesson was not to rush into things,” Brady told Closer Weekly in a 2019 interview.
Brady previously told Black Enterprise that he and his second ex-wife are still close. “Luckily, my ex-wife is my best friend in the world — and we have our production company together — but we couldn’t remain married because I wasn’t tending to the fires at home,” he said.
Wayne Brady Previously Showed Strong Support for Gay Marriage
Brady has long been a supporter of marriage equality. In 2012, he recorded a public service announcement for Logo TV to explain why he was supportive of same-sex marriages.
“You could easily substitute Black for gay,” he said at the time. “In the sense of, years ago a black person couldn’t marry a white person. It was illegal. You could be killed. I could be stopped on the street. I could be pulled out of my house. Someone told us we could not be with the people we wanted to be [with] and treated us like second-class citizens.”
“So that being said, in all consciousness I have to — I must — support the fact that you need to love who you want to love,” Brady said.
In 2016, Brady voiced one-half of Nickelodeon’s first-ever same-sex married couple on an episode of the animated series “The Loud House,” according to Vulture. Brady and Michael McDonald provided voices for the gay couple in the episode “Overnight Success.”