Jason Mraz Once Feared Being a 'Punch Line' for Revealing His Sexuality

Six years after publicly identifying as bisexual, Jason Mraz is reflecting on his journey toward living authentically.

The two-time Grammy winner and “Dancing With the Stars” contestant appeared on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast on Tuesday and discussed why he kept his sexuality under wraps early in his career.

“I didn’t have too many sexual experiences in high school,” said Mraz, who grew up in Virginia. “I was bullied and just eager to leave town. Moving to New York City, and later to California, was liberating.”

He continued, “The romance in my songs was just mirroring other love songs. These are the themes you sing about to connect with others. It wasn’t until I moved to California that I found a community who saw me in a way I had never been seen before. I liked how I was being seen and heard.”

Mraz first spoke about his bisexuality in a 2018 interview with Billboard.

Now 47, Mraz skyrocketed to fame with his 2002 album “Waiting for My Rocket To Come,” which featured the hit single “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry).” Despite his growing success, he explained, “I still carried with me the conservative mindset from my upbringing.”

He added, “In the ’90s, being gay was often the punchline of a joke, and I didn’t want to be that punchline.”

The singer-songwriter initially hinted at his sexuality in June 2018 through a Billboard feature celebrating Pride Month, where he wrote a short poem containing the line, “I am bi your side.”

About a month later, he told Billboard that he hadn’t intended for the poem to be seen as his coming out moment. However, he shared, “I’ve had experiences with men, even while I was dating the woman who became my wife.”

At the time, Mraz was married to Christina Carano, his second wife. The couple divorced in 2023.

In his conversation on “Dinner’s on Me,” Mraz described himself as a “late bloomer” in many aspects of life and admitted that “others my age might have more experience.”

“I can’t say that I have found love yet,” he said. “I have been in amazing relationships and always learned and grown. Hopefully, I haven’t accumulated bad karma from those relationships, but I love where I am now and finally feel so much love for myself.”

Listen to Mraz’s “Dinner’s on Me” interview below. His comments about his sexuality begin around the 23:30 mark.