David Archuleta Was Engaged 3 Times Before Coming Out

Jennifer Hudson Show / YouTube David Archuleta on "The Jennifer Hudson Show"

“American Idol” season seven runner-up David Archuleta has been on a spiritual and emotional journey for years. The singer was a devout Mormon for most of his life, but ever since publically coming out in 2021, he has taken a step back from the church.

Now, 15 years after his original run on the show, Archuleta is sitting down with fellow “American Idol” alumna Jennifer Hudson on her new talk show to open up about his journey, and how he came to terms with his sexuality.

See the full interview below.

David Archuleta Stepped Away From Church Due to ‘Lack of Understanding’

In his interview on “The Jennifer Hudson Show”, host Hudson asked David Archuleta how he has been feeling since coming out publically as a member of the LGBTQ community in June 2021. Archuleta admits his journey hasn’t been completely smooth sailing, and a lot of his confusion over his sexuality had to do with wrapping his identity so deeply in the Mormon church.

“For [the church], everything is about marriage. About being able to marry someone and procreate, essentially, because then that’s the closest you can become like God. Creating life,” Archuleta said.

He even opened up about his three past engagements (he calls them all “wonderful girls”), and how breaking off each of these relationships helped him realize that the issue in them were coming from Archuleta’s insecurities and confusion about his sexuality.

“[My fiancées] would always say, ‘Why are you so cold? Did I do something wrong?’, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t desire them the way they wanted to, the way that they deserved really,” Archuleta said, “So I was wondering, ‘Did I do something wrong?'”. Archuleta says he has been working on separating what he has been taught in the Mormon church from how he sees himself, and that this has required taking a step back from the church.

“After trying to talk to some of the church leaders and explain to them my situation, I realized there was a lack of understanding with LGBT people because when I talked to them, it seemed like the assumptions were that all LGBT people think about is sex, and so people think it’s an evil thing,” Archuleta says, clarifying that this is not actually the case.

After much thought and prayer, Archuleta realized that his sexuality was not going to change and that a lot of the things he thinks were “mistakes” along his journey are not actually so. Archuleta also spoke with People about his relationship with the church and says he feels “liberated” after deciding to take a step back.

David Archuleta is Going on a Christmas Tour

Amidst his personal growth, David Archuleta is preparing for his “The More The Merrier” Christmas Tour, which begins this week. Tickets for the tour, which brings Archuleta throughout his home state of Utah, with other stops in Idaho, Nevada, Texas, and Arizona, are available now on the singer’s website.

Tour begins this Friday, November 18, in Ivins, Utah.

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