While appearing on TS Madison’s podcast, rapper Lil Nas X opened up about his sexuality and his journey toward self-love. Notably, per People, the episode was taped in February 2025, six months before his August arrest.
In the interview, filmed for Madisons’s iHeart program Outlaws, Nas shared that when he first came out, he didn’t realize that people would care about his sexuality so much, and that he was taken aback by the backlash he faced for saying he was gay.
“At first it really bothered me,” he said. “For a long time, it bothered me because I was just like, ‘People won’t really care that much.’ But they cared a lot more than I thought they would care.”
He added, “I just thought the world was just in a different place. But no, it’s always like a circle of we’re here for this, we’re not here for that. But I mean, at this point, I’m at a place where I’m just like, I’m gonna do what I feel like.”
Nas also said that, when it comes to his reception in the gay community, a lot of his female fans have defended him from some of his harshest critics, who have been gay men.
“A lot of the girls really fuck with me and show me a lot of love and are like my top defenders in a lot of cases, but a lot of times, they’re defending me from other gay people,” he said. “With how I present myself and how I go about things, a lot of people can see me as very gimmicky and very try hard.”
He added, “I don’t mind being called those things. But I do like to put together gimmicks or schemes or whatnot. I think that makes it fun. I could just be a boring artist that just drops a song and does nothing with it and keep everything very vanilla. But no, I’m here to fuck shit up and have fun.”
That level of scrutiny made him feel “paranoid” and “afraid to move too much or be seen too much,” he told Madison. “I felt like the entire world was against me.”
Combatting that feeling, Nas said, involved a lot of inner work. “I had to really go on a self-love journey again, and more than ever this time, and really accept every single part of me, whether I perceive it as good or bad, and stop trying to force change in myself all the time,” he said. “Because I feel like we’re very obsessed with the idea of growth and change and forcing that. And you have to let that shit come naturally.”
Nas alluded to the fact that, in the months prior to the February 2025 interview, he had been somewhat isolated. When Madison asked him if he had any LGBTQ+ people in his life for support, he responded, “If I’m being like super honest, like for like the past seven, eight, nine, I don’t know how many long months, I kind of got away from everybody.” He continued, “Even like my team and everything, I kind of got rid of everybody. And I’m just now bringing people like back on board.”
His comments came just a few months before he would be arrested and charged with four felonies in August 2025, after being seen roaming the streets of Los Angeles in his underwear, and at one point nude. After his release on bail, the rapper released a short video saying, “Your girl is going to be ok y’all.” He added “She’s gon’ be alright, she’s gon’ be alright… That was a terrifying last four days but your girl is going to be alright.”
Earlier this month, a California judge ruled that the “Old Town Road” singer’s arrest was “aberrant from his normal conduct” and that the behavior was due to his bipolar diagnosis. The court ruled that the charges against him would be dismissed if he follows a mental health treatment plan and doesn’t break any laws for two years.
“When treated, he is much better off, and society is much better off,” the judge said. Schneider added that Lil Nas X seemed to be “doing very well.”
Elsewhere in his interview with Madison, Lil Nas X also spoke more deeply about his sexuality.
“I’m gay, but if something happens, I’m not going to stop myself,” he said. “There’s certain women every now and then, I’m like, okay, ‘You’re like really like…’ you know what I mean?” He added, “But mostly I 99% lean towards men.”
Though he clarified that he’s “never had sex with a girl,” he said he that he has “feelings,” for women, but they were mostly emotional and “not sexual.”
“I’m not saying I wouldn’t,” he said. “I’m saying if like, there’s like a drunk night, I’m having a good time.”
