Magic Johnson is one proud father to his son Earvin “EJ” Johnson, but it wasn’t always like that.
The 29-year-old reality TV personality came out to his father back in 2010, and at first, the latter wasn’t too keen about the decision. Both father and son looked back on the experience with Variety and candidly opened up about their relationship following the news.
“When you grow up in team sports, you’re thinking, ‘Is he gonna play sports?’” Johnson says. “And then when I saw that he liked dolls and to play dress-up … ‘What are you doing?’”
“I was out to all my friends,” says EJ, who is now 29. “[My parents] were the last people that I really had to talk to about it. It wasn’t new for me, but they had to really take that in and digest it. Especially my dad, because he was really the last person to talk to. I think it was just a lot for him to swallow in that conversation. A lot of just going back and forth. And he just was rattling off about things that weren’t particularly nice. But he’s not somebody who works great being cornered or surprised.”
“He’d come up with stupid rules: ‘No scarves in the house,’” EJ continues. “But it’s really not about scarves; it’s really about him seeing you be you.”
Tensions got really high in the household, but wouldn’t last too much longer when then-17-year-old EJ set off for newfound independence at NYU. Johnson visited him in New York, and the two repaired their relationship.
“I had only been gone for two months,” EJ says. “He picked me up at my dorm and I was like, ‘Oh, whatever, hey.’ And he hugged me so hard — he was, like, squeezing all the air out of me. That’s when I knew, there’s nothing but love here.”
While Magic found out in 2010 his son was gay, EJ didn’t tell the world publicly until 2013 when TMZ posted a video of him holding hands with his partner at the time.
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When it comes to his son’s sexual orientation, the Michigan native revealed to the publication, “He changed me. He was so proud. This dude here is just so proud of who he is.”
