14He publicly came out as gay in 2013
In 2013, EJ came out publicly as gay after TMZ posted a video of him holding hands with his best friend, Alessandro Monetti, whom TMZ claimed at the time was his boyfriend.
Despite the aggressive tabloid outing, the 20-year-old took the experience in stride. “I always wanted to come into the spotlight,” he told the YouTube talk show Gwissues (via ESPN) in 2013. “I always had dreams and plans of doing my own thing and creating my own image, so it came a little sooner than I thought it would but this is still something I knew I would be going through and would have to experience.”
EJ said the reaction to his sexuality varied from positive to extremely harsh. Of his critics, he said, “It’s almost like they’re attacking me for being me and so to that I can only say, ‘Well, I can only be myself, so I don’t know really what you want me to do.”
