Kail Lowry’s Son Elliott Talks About How His Father Jo Rivera’s Family Handled Him Coming Out as Gay

On a new bonus episode of Kail Lowry‘s Barely Famous podcast, her son Elliott (who went by his first name Isaac while appearing on Teen Mom 2 as a kid) revealed how his father’s side of the family has handled his coming out.

As The Ashley previously reported, Elliott officially “came out” as gay on last Friday’s episode of his mom’s podcast. This week, a bonus episode of the podcast was released that contained more content from Elliott’s interview, including the 15-year-old discussing how those related to his dad, Jo Rivera, reacted to the news that he is gay. 

Elliott stated that his dad found out he was gay after Elliott was “outed” by a classmate in fifth grade. However, he stated that he wasn’t “fully out” until seventh grade. While Elliott didn’t discuss his dad Jo’s feelings about his sexuality, he did reveal how Jo’s mom and sister took the news.

“There are certain things that bother me, like when people talk about you, or my relationship with my dad,” Elliott said. (In Part 1 of the interview, he stated that people on social media have frequently commented that they believe Jo would be upset that his son is gay, or something of that nature.)

“Like, just let me speak about it myself,” he stated. “You don’t need to say any of that…You don’t know me. You see me on social media and whatever, but you don’t hear me, you don’t know who I am unless I tell you. Unless I show you.”

Elliott— who stated during Part 1 that he is now going by his middle name because he likes it more, and to hopefully distance himself from who he was on ‘Teen Mom 2’ as a kid— revealed that Jo’s mom Janet struggled a bit when he came out to her years ago.

(Fans first met Janet during Kail’s 16 and Pregnant episode in 2010. She went on to appear frequently during the early seasons of ‘Teen Mom 2.’) 

“My grandma, I love her to death,” Elliott said of Janet, who moved to Delaware a few years ago to be closer to Jo and his family. “But, I didn’t love how she kind of brought religion into it…it was just very odd to me because before she started talking about that, she asked me about my beliefs. And I told her I’m not really spiritual and she started to bring God into the situation and I just thought it wasn’t necessary and it wasn’t related.

“And she also kind of mentioned, like, I shouldn’t go and tell people that I’m gay because I don’t know who I am yet,” Elliott said. “She said it very subtly. It wasn’t direct. That’s what she was saying basically.”

Elliott said Janet’s reaction made him avoid discussing his sexuality with her for a while. 

“At the time, I wouldn’t,” he said. “But now I think that, since I’ve gotten older and I’m still gay, she realizes now that I am who I am and that’s not going to change. It’s OK now. She won’t do that anymore. But I think at the time it was hard for her. She didn’t know how to approach it.

“She’s from a generation older than me, and I’m not justifying it or excusing it,” Kail told her son of his grandma. “I told you my feelings when you originally told me that, but she does come from a different generation even above me. And millennials are deconstructing all of this. It might have taken her time to come to terms with it, unfortunately.”

Kail and Elliott confirmed that his relationship with his Grandma Janet now is solid. 

“Leading up to the point where she could come to terms with it, it was very awkward,” he said. “She would try to talk about it a little bit, but it was very awkward, considering the conversation we had. It would always be her that would bring it up first. I think it was her way of trying to make me feel comfortable around her with it. But it wasn’t her fault it didn’t work. I think it just needed time.”

Elliott didn’t reveal how his grandpa Eddie reacted to the news, but he did share that another family member was “shocked” when he told her.

“The only person I can think of that reacted a little, like, shocked…was my TiTi,” he said, adding that she was the first family member that he came out to, after Kail.

(While Elliott didn’t specifically name the family member, “TiTi” is often the word used in Spanish-speaking cultures for “aunt.” Jo has a sister, Crystal, so that’s likely who Elliott is speaking about here.)

“She took it well obviously, she made me feel good about it, like you did,” Elliott said to his mom. “I feel very comfortable around her and stuff. I think she was a little surprised. We don’t see each other as often so it’s hard to catch up. So I think the time that I told her, it was shocking…I think the way I told her it might have been shocking for her. But she’s very loving and accepting about it.”

During Part 1, Elliott disputed fans’ claims that things that Kail— or Jo— did or didn’t do “made” him gay.

“People have said that you weren’t around your dad enough, or that I was doing certain things in my parenthood that ‘turned’ you gay. Do you feel like any of that is true?” Kail asked. 

“No!” Elliott said, reminding fans that his parents have 50/50 custody of him and that’s he’s spent equal time with them.

“I think people confuse who they’re around, the parent, they confuse it with masculinity. It’s not about sexuality; it’s about how masculine/feminine they are,” he said. 

Jo has not spoken publicly since Elliott publicly came out.

To read about what was discussed in Part 1 of the episode, click here.