Andrew Gillum spoke his piece this morning on "The Tamron Hall Show" a he revealed he is a bisexual man, and his wife revealed he told her before they ever married. Everything The Gillums had to say about that night in Miami, the fall out, and the status of the marriage and Andrew's future in the political world.
Former Florida Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum told Tamron Hall in his only interview since that hotel incident back in March the events that led up to him facing the lowest point of his career, according to him.
He says nothing happened with the other man who was found overdosing in the same Miami Beach hotel room as him that night he was found naked on the floor and in a pool of his own vomit. In fact, Andrew says he did nothing wrong at any point before, during or after the night of the incident, other than trusting someone he thought was a friend.
What Andrew interestingly didn't state during the interview, was that this friend - that he says he met in a bar months ago and caught up with after a day of drinking - is allegedly a well known gay male escort.
Here's Andrew's recount of how things unfolded that weekend in Mimai, where he was in town from Tallahassee to officiate a wedding. He says he was drinking for approximately 4 hours - solo - on Miami Beach while waiting for his friends and wife to land. He revealed he was there early because his team had set up some meetings for him in the city.
He left the bar scene he was at and went to another bar - where he runs into the person (whom he changed from naming as a friend to naming as an acquaintance) we spoke about earlier. He says he had another drink at that bar. Andrew, choosing his words carefully, says the drink was “prepared for him” and he doesn’t remember anything that happened in the next 3 hours following that. He basically alluded to being drugged by someone he trusted. The next thing he knew, he was being woken up, naked, in a pool of his own vomit by police who told him his friend was in the other room overdosing.
Andrew said he took no drugs and did not have any tryst or threesome with anyone that night. He actually didn't seen see the pics of him until he was in rehab days later, and he says he didn't even recognize himself.
He thought he would be taken to the police station to answer questions as he thought his friend had died, but he was driven to the home he and hiw wife and friends had rented for the weekend. His wife was asleep by the time he arrived home and didn’t wake her up. He didn’t tell her what happened until the next morning, and by that time, the report was blasted everywhere by Candace Owen. He said he had a few choice words for her as well.
Tamron said she didn’t want to ask him the “are you gay” question because, to her, it’s not relevant. The issue she sees is why he allowed himself to be in this position. Andrew's answer: "The reason he went into that room with that man is no different than what anyone would do with a friend."
He said he understands how it looks. But it was not pornography, or a sex act. And, with that, he revealed something he said he's never shared publicly before:
“I don’t identify as gay, but I do identify as bisexual."
Here's a clip:
Former Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum tells Tamron Hall he's bisexual: "That is something I have never shared publicly before" pic.twitter.com/prUW7NPk1C
— The Recount (@therecount) September 14, 2020
Still Andrew feels he was taken advantage of and did nothing he wasn't supposed to do that night. But he said when he finally saw the photo, he didn’t recognize himself in that photo on that floor. He felt he was taken advantage of.
“That’s a person who was in a vulnerable position. Somebody decided to use a moment where I was literally lying in my own vomit.”
He told Tamron he wasn’t sure if he wanted to live after this because of everything that was being said about him. It was most hurtful to be accused of living a lie in his marriage. He said, "We’re all allowed to make mistakes without everything else in our lives being invalidated....The authenticity I tried to lead with was all in question at this point."
When his wife R.Jai sat down with Tamron solo later in the interview, she revealed she had called him 50 times that night and didn’t know where he was. She thought either he had a DUI or was in a depression, as the couple had been dealing with their own marital issues since the 2019 election fall out.
She said about seeing the harsh photo:
“It was hard to see. My husband. The strongest man I know. It was hard to see.”
“That he was helpless. Honestly, I got angry. I thought he was taken advantage of. If this had been a woman the narrative would have been different. If a woman was lying on the floor naked, would a tabloid have run that/. Would the pics have even made it out?”
As she revealed she was adamantly opposed to talking about this to anyone, but still wanted to talk to Tamron, Andrew was seen off camera, head hanging and crying, while his wife spoke on his behalf.
“It’s always been the protection of the intimacy of our relationship,” R. Jai said.
She says Andrew told her long before they were married that he is bisexual. They are private and protective, and didn’t feel it was anybody else’s business, so that’s why it was never spoken about publicly. She also believes people don’t understand bisexuality.
As for what R. Jai wants for her husband: “Peace. It’s hard to be comfortable in your own skin. It’s hard to show your true self to people. No matter how high you are, we all have insecurities.”
Does Andrew want to reenter politics and does he think he could win: “I do if I put my mind to that. DO I think it would be hard? Absolutely. But Donald Trump is President. You have folks who maybe aren’t laid out on a hotel room, but are terrorizing people’s lives and they wear it as a symbol of pride.”
He knows his contributions to politics could take on a totally different form.
As for his initial gut reaction to seeing THAT photo:
“I’m still here, but he grace of God. So much of my recovery is trying to get over shame….I didn’t know that was out there. I learned about it in the best place I could have learned about it - in rehab. I cried because I didn’t recognize that person. I didn’t know it could get that bad.”
“What helped me is the grace I received from my wife. This was before we even knew if there would be a future R.Jai and Andrew. She wanted be better. She knew when I’m in my natural state, in my full being, when I’m fully in that person that I’m not this drunk guy with puke on the ground. I’m a good father and a good husband and person who get back up.”
Andrew said about their marriage, "I fell in love with the person I chose and chose me back. In making that decision, we take the good and the bad.”
Tamron asked after the interview aired, "Would Andrew Gillum be a political star if he disclosed 20 years ago that he was bisexual?"
We would hope the answer would be yes, but is this the actual main issue at hand here?
There are mixed reactions on social media, of course. Some praising Andrew for owning his truth publicly, some feeling like the bisexuality revelation is more of a political spin to something more immoral - like cheating on your wife. Not everyone buys this was simply an incident of a solo Andrew - even in his big position of political celebrity - being taken advantage of by someone who is reportedly an escort that he maintains is just a friend.
Either way, we wish the couple the best and we hope they find peace however they can.
Photos: Andrew's Instagram
source: theybf
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