Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson
said on Thursday that he asked his son as a teen whether he was gay.
Earlier this week, Earvin “EJ”
Johnson III, a 20-year-old student at New York University, was
spotted by a TMZ.com film crew in Los Angeles with his boyfriend.
In a sit-down with TMZ.com founder
Harvey Levin, the elder Johnson said he has known about his son's
sexual orientation for “a long, long time.”
“We finally had to sit down and talk
about it,” Johnson said. “And I told him, 'Look, I'm going to
love you regardless. Just let me know, are you or aren't you?' And
then finally, he just said, 'Yes, I am.'”
“So you initiated it?” Levin asked.
“Yes, because he wasn't going to come
to me,” Johnson answered.
“How old was he?”Levin asked.
“Man, he had to be about 12, 13 years
old, 14 years old,” Johnson replied.
On his son's coming out, Johnson said
that it was “a good moment for us as a family and a greater moment
for him.”
“I think now he's just a bubbly kid …
and he's just happy that it is out.”