麻豆APP

Sanjaya Malakar Comes Out as Bisexual: A Look at His Journey

Sanjaya Malakar is a famous American singer and pastry chef who garnered international recognition from the sixth season of the American Idol. He was born on the 10^th of September 1989, in Seattle, Washington. His mother brought him up after they separated from his father when he was three years old. He lived on welfare in a Seattle apartment together with his mother and siblings.

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In his childhood years, he was brought up along with theatre kids. Speaking to Adam Sank, he said, 鈥�I always got along with the gay kids and the girls, so I was like, 鈥極K, this is like my people. But I don鈥檛 know. Everyone keeps telling me that I am gay, and I鈥檓 like, 7. I don鈥檛 even have any attraction to anyone, so why are you telling me this?鈥�鈥� He received pressure from his surroundings about his sexual identity. Right from school he did not fit in with other kids and coming on American Idol in 2007 was sought of a breakthrough for him. He had to define himself by identifying who he was.   

Malakar was a finalist in the American Idol sixth season after controversially advancing to the 7^th position with public votes. This was despite the negative reception from the judges, particularly Simon Cowell. However, the American Idol star commented that after season 6, Cowell approached him during the after-party and commended him for taking his comments with grace and positively. His supporters argued that he had a good stage presence and was talented and therefore voted for him.

He received harsh criticism from the judges and some of the viewers as well. Nonetheless, Malakar caught the attention of the viewers for his vocal abilities and his unique ponytail-mohawk hybrid hairstyle. In the process, the contestant鈥檚 sexuality became a heated conversation and debate among viewers who assumed that he was gay and he was trying to hide his sexual identity. However, those were just assumptions from the viewer.

, , via Wikimedia Commons

While speaking to Adam Sank, Malakar came out to the public in 2022 to talk about his sexuality. During the Adam Sank show podcast, he said, “I identify as bisexual. At the time, I did not know, which is why it was so weird to me,” However, he explained that his sexuality was largely attributed to his surroundings where he was brought up. He was raised by women and only participated in theatre kids which mostly involved girls.

Because of the circles he was raised, he found comfort around women, and his behavior was also highly influenced. While on the DNR Studios podcast, went on to say, 鈥�I had a hard time figuring out how to interact with young boys because my dad’s from India and grew up in a temple, so there was never like, ‘This is how you are a boy,’鈥� His father was not around to show him how to behave and carry himself as a man. His mother on the other side was an A-type personality, and he grew up being the awkward theatre kid.

During the American Idol, he was in a relationship with his long-term girlfriend and was content with his sexuality. He said, “I was exploring my life as a child, and then American Idol happened, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, he’s gay.’ And I was like, ‘OK, well now I have to say no, because at this point they’re forcing me to make a decision and define myself.'” He was struggling to figure out his identity and even his fellow team in the American Idol could not help.

In the podcast, he also explains the struggles he faced with his team during the American Idol. They also assumed that he was gay and encouraged him to cover up his sexuality during the show.  He said, “All of my publicists were like, ‘Oh, just tell everyone you’re single. Be ambiguous. No one needs to know anything about anything because you don’t want to lose your fans,'” he added. “And I’m like, ‘OK, but why am I manipulating what I know of myself to figure out what kind of fans I’m going to get because I’m still trying to discover who I am?'”

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Malakar is finally happy to come out and open up about his sexuality. Despite having struggled with his own identity, he hopes that coming out will also help others who are struggling with identity. He is comfortable and confident with his sexuality and is living his truth. “I’m just glad that I can finally be myself,” he added. “I hope that this can help other people who are going through the same thing.”

Coming out to the public to open up about his own sexual identity was a weight off his shoulders. At that point, he was not bothered with what other people could say about him but he was brave for speaking his heart and mind. He commented on the same while speaking with Adam Sank, he said “For me, at this point, I don’t really care about what people know of my sexuality, and if I got into a serious long-term relationship with a guy I would bring him to my family, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, cool.'”

However, Malakar has not been in any serious relationship with any of the genders. He is free to date anyone not paying attention to gender but who they are in person. During the interview with Sank, Malakar was asked about his current relationship status with rumors saying that he was seeing someone. He confirmed that he is not in a relationship with anyone at the moment.

Malakar has had a long journey in identifying his sexuality since he was young. Battling negative comments from the judges in the American Idol and the teammates as well. However, He managed to come out and identify as bisexual. It was not a smooth road in the identity issue. However, all pointers showed that he was not 100% percent straight. He gathered courage and stepped up to boldly speak about his struggles with sexual identity. He used the Adam Sank Show podcast to share about his life and speak about the pressure surrounding his sexual identity.