It took time, but Tevin Campbell says he learned to love himself and “nothing else” matters.
Campbell, 46, sat down with TV One’s interview series Uncensored to reflect on his life and career.
“You can only be you, don’t try to pretend to be something else,” Campbell said in the interview — which premiered Sunday night.
The Grammy-nominated R&B artist found fame after scoring a string of hits as a teenager in the 1990s.
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Campbell’s early hits included “Round and Round,” “Alone with You,” “Tell Me What You Want Me to Do,” and “Just Ask Me To” off his 1991 debut album Tevin.
With his immense talent, the singer-songwriter worked with superstar writers and producers, including Quincy Jones, Narada Michael Walden, Babyface, Al B. Sure, Kyle West, and Prince, just to name a few.
As he grew into adulthood, Campbell scored more hits with “I’m Ready” and “Can We Talk.”
Despite his accomplishments, social media users questioned his relevancy and his sexual orientation, making him a trending topic on Twitter in October 2018.
Campbell dismissed the homophobic comments in a since-deleted tweet, writing: “I read the comments. I done heard it all… he a ‘f-g,’ ‘he gay as hell,’ y’all homophobes gotta do better.”
In August 2022, the singer-songwriter confirmed he is gay in an interview with People magazine’s “People Every Day podcast.”
Campbell told Uncensored he has now “embraced” himself and is proud.
“It’s all about loving yourself,” he said. “You only have one life, and you need to live it fully.”
He encouraged others to just “be you.”
“So I accepted that, embraced that years ago and I love it. I’ll be happy for a very, very, very long time,” he said. “There’s nothing that can take away that happiness because once you find that, there’s nothing else that matters, literally. There’s nothing you can say to me that can take that away from me.”
Campbell was guarded in the Uncensored interview, and did not reveal much new information about himself, except that he hopes to record new music.
Uncensored: Tevin Campbell premiered Sunday at 10 P.M./9C on TV One.
Watch a clip from the episode in the video above.
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