‘Teen Mom’ Kid Isaac Rivera Comes Out as Gay on Mom Kail Lowry’s Podcast; Says He’s Going By a Different Name Now to Distance Himself from the Show

Teen Mom kid Isaac Rivera used Friday’s episode of his mom’s Barely Famous podcast to officially come out as gay– and reveal the new name he is now using. 

Isaac– who is the son of Kail Lowry and Jo Rivera— revealed that he is now going by his middle name, Elliott, partly because he wants to separate the person he is today from the kid people watched grow up on ‘Teen Mom 2.’ 

“Obviously, this is a very sensitive subject, and maybe should be treated with care,” Kail said at the beginning of the episode. “I have some reservations about what we’re discussing today because, obviously, this is my son and I don’t want to ever put a target on his back or put him in a dangerous position. But with that being said, I still want him to live his truth and live authentically and be proud of who he is, because we’re proud of who he is.”

Kail got emotional throughout the hour-long interview with her son, crying what she called “tears of pride” for being proud of Elliott for being brave enough to do the podcast. 

“We’re finally being able to share your story, on your terms, in your words,” she told the 15-year-old.

Elliott— who was born during Kail’s 2010 episode of 16 and Pregnant— stated that he decided to share his story on the podcast so fans could see who he is now.

“I’m here today to show you who I am, not who you saw on TV for 12 years of my life,” Elliott stated. “…Growing up on TV, it’s hard to show who you really are when a camera’s in front of you all the time. It’s almost like you have a TV face. It’s harder to be yourself and be more comfortable because it’s going to be everywhere and all over the Internet.”

Although he chose to come out very publicly, Elliott acknowledged that many people don’t feel the need to do so.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to ‘come out,'” he said. “I’m doing it for me. You can do what you want. If you feel that it’s necessary to ‘come out,’ then do it. But if you don’t, then just be yourself. Like, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. So just be who you are and be true to yourself. At the end of the day, it’s for you.”

Elliott also addressed the fans of the show who have made comments like “oh, we always knew” that he was gay, or that his dad “didn’t like this.

“Things like that, it’s not necessary,” he said. “And I want to be clear, this is for me and I’ve built up the courage over time to make it known. Let me have my moment. I’m really sick of people coming up with their own stories and putting things in their own words. And things coming out on other people’s terms about me. My life isn’t entertainment for other people. My life is my life. I can do what I want with it, and for people to take things from my life, like personal stuff, is not OK. If I want to share that, I should share that on my terms.” 

As for people who have stated that Elliott is “choosing to be gay,” Kail said that’s just ridiculous.

“Nobody’s choosing to put themselves in a place where they’re facing adversity and dangerous situations,” she said. “Nobody’s choosing to put themselves in the position where their family is kicking them out and they’re on the streets. Nobody’s choosing that… I’m speaking to the adults who are having children and maybe have family members who are homophobic. I’m speaking to you guys. One, maybe don’t have kids if you’re not going to love them unconditionally. That’s Number 1. And Number 2, your child is not choosing this. This is something I believe they’re born with.”

“Nobody would do that, with the things that [gay] people go through with that,” Elliott said. “You’re gonna choose the easy route.”

“But, like I said earlier, I think that when you have kids you have to choose to love them unconditionally because you cannot control who they love,” Kail stated. You cannot control what their sexuality is. For me, I never gave a f**k….because, at the end of the day, that part does not affect me and my life. It only affects you. Who you love is who you love. At the end of the day, I’m not going to sever a relationship with my child based off of who he loves or doesn’t love. I’m not going to forfeit a relationship with you.” 

Elliott advised parents who have LGBTQ+ kids to immerse themselves in the community to make themselves more comfortable and knowledgeable about their child.

“Go to a Pride event or talk to someone who’s gay,” he said. “…The first step is trying to build comfort and try to immerse yourself in the community. You just have to realize that we’re not different. We’re just regular people.” 

“I also think that there are some people where they’re fine when it’s someone else’s kid,” Kail said. “It’s fine when it’s someone else’s kid until their kid is part of the queer community.”

Elliott also talked about how his siblings handled his coming out. (As fans know, Kail has six other kids including sons Lincoln, Lux, Creed, Rio and Verse, as well as daughter Valley. Elliott also has a sister, ViVi, who is the daughter of Jo and Vee Torres.) 

“I feel like they just look at me and they’re like, ‘Oh that’s my brother. It doesn’t matter if he’s gay. He’s my brother.'” Elliott said.

“My other sons are around you, and you’re gay, and they’re not affected by it,” Kail said. “They don’t care. If anything, they’ll just ask you questions because they don’t know. But it’s almost, like, normalizing it for them because they don’t think any different of you. You’re just their brother.”

“Just because they’re around me, like you said, it’s not contagious!” Elliott added. “They’re not going to turn gay because of me. If they’re gay, they were born that way.”

Elliott also shot down some fans’ theories that actions by Kail or Jo have “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. 

During the episode, Kail’s son also discussed why he now goes by his middle name, Elliott, rather than his first name Isaac, which is what he’s been known as publicly since he was born.

“I started going by Elliott because, at some point, I wasn’t happy with my first name. I don’t know…it just doesn’t feel like me in some way,” he explained.

Kail stated that, in her opinion, her son is using his middle name to “build a separation between who you were on ‘Teen Mom’ and who you are today,” something Elliott agreed with.

“That’s part of it,” he said. 

“I can appreciate the separation between who you were [on the show] and who you are today,” Kail said. “I think that is cool for you to recognize. It’s cool for you to sort of decide what makes you comfortable. And that was your decision.”

Elliott stated his father’s family still calls him Isaac, and that he’s OK with it, since they have always known him by that name.

“I didn’t expect that from them,” he said. “I didn’t expect it from you either. I didn’t think, like, ‘Oh, you have to call me Elliott. I don’t take any other name.’ But I would have been fine if you kept calling me Isaac because I know that transition would have been hard. And it was, a bit, because you’ve called me by my first name my whole life. I think the separation from my personal and my private life, and who I was on TV from who I am now, that’s like the main reason [for the name change]. But at some point, I just realized I like my middle name better.” 

During the podcast, Elliott and Kail discussed how difficult it’s been for him to deal with invasions of privacy. 

“Fans, don’t take something that I share with my personal life and put it publicly. At the same time, I also have to be more cautious with that,” he said, with Kail adding that she has recently had to explain to her son that whatever he shares privately on the Internet will eventually get “leaked.” 

“Your private Internet life is not actually a private life,” she said, later adding, “Just because you grew up on TV, doesn’t mean you necessarily want to put all your business out there, like I do, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m teaching you to put all your business out there. What you choose for yourself should be respected by the listeners and the viewers…people can love you and not expect you to sell your soul to social media.” 

They also discussed how, last month, numerous ‘Teen Mom’ social media pages posted photos of Elliott and his (male) date at their prom. (Elliott has never shared the photos himself, so The Ashley will not be posting them here.)

The photos were taken from private accounts belonging to his date and were not intended to be shared publicly. At the time of the photo leak, Elliott had already been planning to share his coming out story on the podcast, but he was still very unhappy that his personal pics went public without his permission.

“You were asked to prom by a junior, a male,” Kail said. “And those pictures and videos were leaked. And then I got home crying. How were you feeling when you saw everything was leaked?”

“I was devastated,” he said. “I also ugly-cried before you got home. It was very disappointing. Nobody knew we were planning this episode. It’s disappointing, going back to things being [released] on my terms. Even if you thought you knew I was gay already, it’s disappointing that I couldn’t share it on my terms. And the way it happened was just not OK.”

“It was just a violation,” Kail said. “It wasn’t even about respect. It was the fact that you’re a minor and it was a huge violation of your privacy in general, and that was really, really heartbreaking.”

“Honestly, it’s not even about just me anymore,” Elliott added. “It’s about the people who are in those pictures. It’s about their safety.”

Kail stated that having the photos leaked put both Elliott and his date in a dangerous situation by exposing something they may not have wanted to have exposed publicly. 

“I think just to have your post go viral, or for your post get likes or for that instant gratification of yourself, you leaked photos of minors just to say you heard it first or you had the information first. You knew it, you called it,” Kail said.

“People don’t understand that if I don’t share it, it shouldn’t be out there,” Elliott added.

Kail stated that, after the leak, Elliott came to her angry and said he was ready to come out publicly on Instagram, but she discouraged him, stating he deserved to tell his story how he wanted to— and make money off of it, rather than random TikTok creators profiting off of it.

“It made me nervous for you to post something on Instagram and then other people to screen-record, make videos, and make money off of you coming out,” Kail said. “It’s exploitative and it’s not fair. And so, if you’re going to share your story, you should be able to tell your story in your own words. I’m not making a dime of profit off of this. This is going to you. So you have the right to tell your story, but you should be the one that’s benefitting from your story.

“For everyone out there that this was done for money, it’s not. Elliott felt like it was time to share his story, and, in my opinion, he should be the one that collects any money that comes from it. It’s his story, his words, his terms,” Kail said.

“It’s important for me to hopefully inspire other people and help other people who are in the same situation, or similar situation, work through it the best that they can,” Elliott added.