Jillian Michaels has said she came out
gay for her kids.
The 38-year-old Michaels, who was
dubbed TV's toughest personal fitness trainer after appearing on
NBC's The Biggest Loser, and her partner Heidi Rhoades adopted
2-year-old Lukensia from Haiti. Rhoades gave birth to their infant
son Phoenix.
The adoption process took years to
complete but Lukensia came home in May, the same week Rhoades gave
birth.
During an appearance on Larry King
Now, Michaels told King that she made coming out a priority for
her kids.
Remaining closeted “had to change,”
she said. “I made that a priority. And I feel very strongly about
it. And I wish I could have maintained that, but having kids –
first of all I don't know how I would have explained the
materialization of a newborn boy. … And then with that said, I
never want my kids to grow up and think that I'm ashamed of our
family. So, I realized that I had no choice.”
Michaels added that she struggled with
her sexuality for many years.
“There were hints of it in high
school,” she said, adding that she dated guys “off and on all
through my twenties.”
“I appreciate men. I think they're
handsome and sexy. And there are men that I am attracted to. But I
have just found that with this person in particular it's where my
heart is, it's where I build my home. It's beyond the physical, in a
very strange way,” Michaels said.
(Watch
the entire episode on Hulu.com.)