Wayne Brady Reveals He’s Pansexual

Comedian and Let’s Make a Deal host Wayne Brady has come out as pansexual. The 51-year-old shared the news in an interview with PEOPLE, joking that he’s “Bixesual — with an open mind!” when describing the label. But for the record, to be pansexual is to be attracted, in any way, to a person regardless of their sexual or gender identity.

“In doing my research, both with myself and just with the world, I couldn’t say if I was bisexual, because I had to really see what that was, especially because I really have not gotten a chance to act on anything. So, I came to pansexual because — and I know that I’m completely messing up the dictionary meaning — but to me, pan means being able to be attracted to anyone who identifies as gay, straight, bi, transsexual or non-binary. Being able to be attracted across the board. And, I think, at least for me for right now, that is the proper place. I took pan to mean that not only can I be attracted to any of these people or types physically, but I could be attracted to the person that is there.”

Brady shared that he began to have revelations about this following the death of comedian Robin Williams in 2014. Why? Because there was a spotlight put on the importance of mental health and what things needed to be confronted in order to be healthy and happy.

“Once I opened that door to myself though, I had to start learning about myself, and I had to start owning up to things that maybe I’d either repressed, suppressed, or just didn’t wanna deal with,” he wrote. “I’ve done a lot of work on a lot of other things until now, one of the last things on that checklist was, what’s one of the last things that you need to be really happy and to be truly, authentically yourself? I gave joy at work.  But the pity is then I come home, and I don’t have that joy. I have joy because I love my daughter and I love my family. I love being a dad more than chocolate ice cream. But that can’t be my only joy. I have to love myself. And that’s when I realized that I had a problem because if I can spend everything on stage and on camera but then I come home and there is a love deficit, what is going on? That was my rock bottom.”

The comedian stated that he’d “been attracted to men at times in my life,” but he’d never been in a relationship with one or dated them. Feelings he felt, he admitted that he pushed them aside due to how he was raised and the realities of the world we live in. But no more.

“I’ve told myself in the past, also, nobody needs to know my personal business. The world can absolutely go without knowing that Wayne identifies as pan. But that gave me license to still live in the shadows and to be secretive,” he said. “What does that feel like to actually not be shameful, to not feel like, ‘Oh, I can’t be part of this conversation because I’m lying?’ I had to break that behavior.”

He’s now able to be the most authentic version of himself possible, says Brady, who is a father to a 20-year-old daughter named Maile, whom he shares with ex-wife Mandie.

“I can be the best dad that Maile needs. I can be the best friend to Mandie, the best son to my mother, and one day, the best partner to someone, because I’m doing this for me,” he added. “Not dating yet though! [Laughs] I am single, but it’s not about being with someone right now. I’ve got some work to do still. Then, Wayne as a single, open-minded pansexual can make a decision and be free and open to other people.” 

Brady joins another Black high-profile figure in identifying as pansexual: Janelle Monáe. He has been married twice before. He was previously with Mandie Taketa from 1999 to 2008, and before that, with Diana Lasso from 1993 to 1995.