Pop Singer and Glee Alum Charice Pempengco Comes Out as a Lesbian
International pop singer and Glee alum Charice Pempengco publicly came out as a lesbian for the first time while on a Filipino talk show Sunday.
When The Buzz host Boy Abunda asked the Filipino powerhouse vocalist if she was a lesbian, Pempengco replied in her native language Tagalog, "Yes ... I am."
The 21-year-old singer explained why she decided to reveal her sexuality on TV. "I have deep gratitude for the Filipinos because they are the ones who know who I really am. ... I don't know what the problem is because for me, there is no problem with that. So now I ask for forgiveness from those who don't understand. And those who cannot accept. I apologize: I understand you."
Questions about her sexuality began to spread earlier this year when photos of Pempengco and a mystery girl, whom many speculated was her girlfriend, surfaced online. "I just want to say to all of you that I feel very light - that I can leave the house knowing I am not hiding anything," she said on the talk show Sunday. "I love myself, that's why I'm able to do this."
Pempengco first rose to international fame after Ellen DeGeneres discovered a video of her on YouTube and invited her to perform on her daytime show in 2007. Since then, Pempengco - known to many as just Charice - has also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has performed alongside Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, among others.
Pempengco recurred during Glee's second season as Sunshine Corazon, a foreign exchange student with killer pipes who became one of New Directions' toughest rivals when she transferred to Vocal Adrenaline. Pempengco also served as a judge on The X Factor Philippines last year.
Check out video from her interview below:
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