Khalid planned to reveal his sexuality to fans on his own terms, before he was outed by an ex-boyfriend last year.
The R&B and pop vocalist spoke about the "embarrassing" moment when his former partner, Hugo D Almonte, outed him on social media last November. In a series of tweets, Almonte recalled the two meeting at a party years ago and their relationship taking a turn for the worse after Khalid allegedly spread rumors that Almonte had broken into his home. Somewhere in the outing, Almonte also claimed that Khalid had used pink cocaine and hired him as an escort, both of which the singer denied.
On the Tuesday (November 4) episode of podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the After the Sun Goes Down artist detailed how he embraced his queer identity after it was revealed without his consent.
"And the thing is, it's like once it happens, you can't turn back. You can't turn around. You can't just like sweep it under the rug and be like, 'Alright, nobody saw that.' So you have to deal with it," he said around the 28-minute mark of the episode below. "That's all you can do. Life doesn't stop. And I'm for sure not gonna stop mine."
Khalid expressed disappointment that people, possibly referring to Almonte, "weaponize" his vulnerability.
"It's very hurtful. But when I know that what I put out is meant to be genuine. I can't be mad at myself for not having the knowledge. I can't be mad at myself for not having the tools. I can't be mad at myself that I might have stayed so long," Khalid said. "I can't be mad at myself that I might have said, 'Hey,' and might have said, 'Oh, you're cute. Do you want to go on a date to the park?' 'Cause it was honest and it was truthful."
Elsewhere, Khalid shared that his sexuality isn't taboo to him, and that he has an uncle who is also queer.
"For me, one thing that I will not allow is someone to weaponize my individuality
against myself. So when people might expect me to go into hiding and be like, 'Oh my god, I don't want anybody to know I'm gay, y'all.' It's like, come on. Like, 'No, I'm gay. ... I just never said it to you.'"
The "Out of Body" artist also detailed that he wanted to come out on his own, but said that it would have been more "complicated" that people think.
"That has to just be introduced," Khalid said. "And I didn't want to put in the effort to showcase my sexuality as much as I wanted to put in the effort to making my music, crafting my music."
Khalid went on to say that he lived in "fear" before he was outed and long dealt with "anxiety," although he believes his mom knew he was gay before he came out to her in 2017. The vocalist says he's since been "extremely embraced by a new community" and that he's gotten comfortable with using he/him pronouns for the love interests in his music.
While on The Zach Sang Show in October, Khalid admitted to feeling "a little distraught" by being outed, but he refused to let the moment keep him dejected.
"I’m going to turn everything that’s weaponized against me and use it for my own ammunition," he said. "I feel like there’s a group of people in this world that feel like being gay is a really bad thing. And I’m like, to say that being myself is bad would be limiting myself from having so much fucking fun."