Tamron Hall kicked off the second season of her self-titled daytime talk show on Monday, Sept. 14, with an exclusive interview with former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and his wife R. Jai Gillum.
The couple sat down with Hall to discuss Gillum’s March 2020 scandal, when he was found in a Miami Beach hotel room with drug paraphernalia and an alleged male prostitute.
In his first interview since the scandal, Gillum told Hall he is a bisexual man, something he has never addressed publicly.
“You didn’t ask the question, you put it out there, is whether or not I identify as gay. The answer is, I don’t identify as gay, but I do identify as bisexual,” the 41-year-old politician said. “And that is something that I’ve never shared publicly before.”
Related Story: Andrew Gillum Going to Rehab After Hotel Overdose Incident
Gillum’s wife said she was aware that he is bisexual, and shared her thoughts on her husband’s decision to publicly come out.
“So many people just don’t understand bisexuality,” she said. “Bisexuality is just something different. I just believe that love and sexuality exist on a spectrum. All I care about is what’s between us and what agreement we make.”
In March, first responders were called to a Miami Beach hotel room regarding a suspected crystal meth overdose. They found Gillum and two other men inside the room. At the time, police said the politician “was unable to communicate due to his inebriated state.”
A photograph was taken and published by several media outlets that showed Gillum naked with sheets and pillows covered in bodily fluids. The former CNN contributor recalled the moment for Hall, saying he did not recognize himself, “literally lying in my own vomit.”
Gillum issued a public apology after the incident and went to rehab for what he said was alcohol abuse.
Prior to the scandal, he was a rising star in the Democratic party. He was the first Black nominee of a major political party to run for governor in Florida. However, he narrowly lost to Republican Ron DeSantis in the 2018 election.
Watch Gillum’s interview above.
