Wayne Brady Opens Up About How Coming Out as Pansexual Changed His Dating Life (Exclusive)

Wayne Brady is proud to share who he is with the world. ET’s Nischelle Turner spoke to the actor six weeks after he came out as pansexual, and he revealed how he thinks his personal announcement will positively affect his dating life.

“It would be hard for me to truly put myself 100 percent into a relationship when there’s this nagging doubt that I have not explored that piece of me, or even given voice to having that option,” Brady explained. “… It doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to manifest itself in a relationship with a man, or a relationship with this person. I don’t know, but at least being able to voice that, so that, if I go into a relationship, whomever I’m in a relationship with knows me 100 percent.”

“I think that’s the piece that was missing, that I couldn’t verbalize, ’cause I couldn’t lock on to it. I always felt this much dishonest, and if I was being dishonest, then there’s no way to truly give yourself 100 percent,” he continued. “Now I feel differently about that ’cause I went, ‘Oh, well now you know. So if you were to be involved with me, you know Wayne in totality.’ I’m not hiding anything now, so now I can approach you in a way that I never have.”

For Brady, coming out as pansexual means that he’s “able to love whomever I want no matter the vessel.”

“At the end of the day for me that just means that I am free to voice the option,” he said. “Here’s the thing: it may never happen… I’m not saying that I am going to be in a relationship with another man. I’m saying it is very possible for me to be attracted to the man because of the person. I can be attracted to this beautiful woman because of the person. But then again, that may be a non-binary person that might go, ‘Oh, I’m attracted to you. I’m attracted to this trans person.'”

“The best part is, now that I’ve said this out loud, I don’t have to worry,” Brady continued. “I could show up at a red carpet. I could be at Denny’s for all you know, I’m not ducking anybody… because it is what it is, and I’m free to do that.”

Though he now has that freedom, Brady said he isn’t ready to date just yet, joking, “I would not inflict me on somebody.”

“The best thing that I could do for myself right now and to do for someone else is to not be in a relationship, is to just breathe,” he said. “There are things that I want to do… I just want to work right now. I want to continue to go to therapy, so that when I am ready to either pursue or be pursued, whomever that may be, my aim is to be my best self.”

While he’s not looking for a partner just yet, Brady already feels lighter now that he’s come out, something he wishes for everyone.

“Every single person should be able to be whatever your truth is. You should be able to feel like you walk in that daily, because that’s the only way to really be free. I think that for myself,” he said. “… It was a big deal, but it’s not really a big, big deal, because it really is just a piece of this that I was all honest about… This is just an extension of that journey, trying to get to a place after turning 50 where… [I realized] how cool it is to just wake up and go, ‘It is what it is,’ and nobody can say anything.”

Coming out was also an important way for Brady to authentically support the LGBTQ community.

“Now I can be a truthful ally and not just an ally on on the outside, but helping with the education piece and saying, ‘Let’s clarify these things,'” he said. “… I have so many of my family and friends who are gay, who are lesbian, my nieces who are trans, they walk outside every day, and they live their real truth unadulterated, walking in nothing but the armor of love and themselves. Those are the brave ones. So when I look at them and I go ‘Man, if by me just speaking my truth… that can help in any way, shape or form, then I’m mad I didn’t do it earlier.”

As for if he worried about how his personal announcement would affect his hosting gig at Let’s Make a Deal, Brady said he eventually worked to develop the attitude of, “You know what, if you don’t like it, don’t watch me. Don’t watch me.”

“Yes, that is part of the bottom line of a show and a network piece, but I would like to think that for each person that may drop off… there’s other people that fill that space in and go, ‘Thank you. I even love you more that you said that. Hey, other five people, come with me to this show now because that dude’s real,'” he said. “That’s all that I could do at the end of the day.”

“Me coming out and saying that I may identify as pansexual still doesn’t stop me from being the dopest host on TV and doing what I do. Still doesn’t stop me from being amazing at my job,” he added. “In fact, if anything, I feel even better, because I’m lighter.”

Let’s Make a Deal isn’t the only thing going on in Brady’s career. He’s also set to play The Wizard in the Broadway-bound musical, The Wiz.

“I can’t say enough how excited I am about being a part of The Wiz. I happened at just the right time,” he said. “… I’m so happy to just be a part of it.”

Fans will get a taste of it all on Brady’s upcoming Hulu reality series, which he’ll appear in alongside his ex-wife and current business partner, Mandie Taketa, their daughter, Maile Brady, and Taketa’s life partner, Jason Fordham.

“We’re doing this reality show [because] we’ve worked really hard. Mandy and I have known each other, this is our 28th year. My relationship with Mandy is longer than anyone in my life except members of my blood family. She’s closer to me than a lot of people that I’m related to by blood,” Brady said. “We’ve worked hard through a marriage, through a breakup, through a child… to life where it is now, and experiencing success together.”

“Folks can say whatever they want to,” he added of the public’s opinion of his blended family. “… Part of sharing our truth and being able to do a reality show like the one that we’re doing, we’re gonna show you what a real family is. Family is who you make it. It’s not always who you’re born to. It’s what you make it.”

At the end of the day,  there’s now “an ease” to Brady’s life that he didn’t have before coming out.

“I’m ready to go on to the rest of my life. Look, life is short, right? Life is finite… When I do go out — which could be tomorrow, it could be 25 years or 30 years — my hope is Wayne lived the rest of his life happily and able to meet everything,” he said. “That’s all that I could hope for everybody. I want everybody to experience that to a certain degree, no matter what their truth is, because mental health is real. That depression monkey that can sit on your shoulder that is real. So whatever you can do to get rid of that… do that.” 

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