Not everyone is lucky when they come out to their parents. Many people have shared how difficult it is to come out as gay and share that they have a partner or boyfriend.

Fortunately, James Charles has been lucky in this aspect. He came out as gay when he was 12 years old, and since then, his parents have supported him.

Moreover, they had the YouTuber’s back when he wanted to chase his love and passion for makeup. 

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James Charles’s supportive parents

Charles has often talked about his coming out story. He first mentioned it during The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He was a guest on the show when he became the first male CoverGirl.

He shared that his parents fully supported him being gay and his career choice as well. They assured him that they would be there for him no matter what.

He said, “They were like, ‘Oh, you know, we love you no matter what. Like if you’re trans, you can tell us.”

Charles does not identify as trans but is happy that his parents loved him for who he was and for their support. 

He went into detail about his coming out story on his YouTube channel. On a video uploaded in May 2018 titled ‘I GOT CAUGHT… MY COMING OUT STORY (chit chat get ready with me),’ Charles shared how his parents found out he was gay.

He was 12 years old and was exploring the internet. He realized that he was interested in boys and not girls. 

During that time, he used to be active on Tumblr. From there, he discovered Omegle, a site where you could chat and socialize with strangers. 

Soon, Charles got addicted to Omegle and used to be on it almost daily. He learned that people talked explicitly on the platform, and Charles was interested in it. 

But unfortunately, one day, he was caught enjoying himself on the Omegle by his father. Charles’ mother and brother used to sleep quite early, but his father stayed up until late watching the news or sports.

One day, while doing an essay for History, Charles decided to watch an explicit video on Omegle, and soon after, his father caught him.

His father said nothing except to turn off the computer and sleep. Charles was embarrassed and scared, so he cried himself to sleep.

He dreaded what would happen the following day, but nothing was different. His parents did not react to the incident that occurred the previous night, making Charles nervous and freaked out.

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He knew they would talk to him soon but did not know when. The MUA returned home from school the same day and waited downstairs for his parents. 

After they came back, they said that they needed to talk to him. Then Charles realized he had forgotten to clear his internet history and knew his father would want to check it.

As expected, his father went to his computer and checked the history. He opened Omegle and saw Charles’ profile which mentioned the topic of interest as “gay, bi, men, boys.”

This way, Charles unintentionally came out to his parents. He was not ready to come out of the closet and reveal that he was gay.

He was embarrassed, and as a result, he cried his eyes out. He was scared of his parents’ reaction, especially that of his father, since he was a Christian. 

His parents were disappointed, but not because Charles was gay. But because of what he was doing on the internet. 

James Charles’ parents supported him coming out as gay. (Source: Instagram)

The YouTuber had a long talk with his parents, who explained the dangers of the internet. They reminded him that he was only 12 years old and there were a lot of predators on the internet.

Since then, Charles has been careful about joining websites like Omegle and exposing himself to similar platforms on the internet. 

James Charles’ boyfriend and partner

When it comes to relationship and dating history, Charles is one of the most controversial people out there. Initially, before even talking about a boyfriend or partner, the YouTuber got into trouble for saying he was not fully gay.

He posted a YouTube video of YouTuber Jeff Witteck doing his makeup on April 12, 2019. The two talked about relationships and sexuality, among other things, and at one point mentioned the Kinsey Scale.

Charles said, “Zero being like, completely straight, and six being like, completely gay. I truly believe the amount of people that are a flat-out zero, or flat-out six, is very, very small” He then noted that he’d rate himself at 5.5 on the homosexual scale.

Wittek asked, “So you’re not even full gay?” To which the MUA said, “I mean, no. There have been girls in the past that I’ve thought have been really, really beautiful. There’s also been like, trans guys in the past too that I was really, really into for a moment in time.”

Charles faced a lot of backlash for this statement. According to Nylon, Charles’ remark enraged many admirers, who believed it was insulting and rejected trans-men individuals as “real” males. 

Charles later issued an apology through Twitter. 

After that, many people were linked as Charles’ boyfriend or partner. However, to date, all of them have ended in a scandal.

First was Gage Gomez, who accused the YouTuber of manipulating and harassing him. In 2021, he was accused by multiple underage boys of texting him with the intention of hooking up with them.

People called him a pedophile, and Charles defended himself via a YouTube video by calling himself desperate. Since then, Charles has kept his dating life out of the limelight and has not revealed if he has a boyfriend or a partner.