Photo: This Morning/Youtube
JoJo Siwa, one of the world’s premier attention grabbers, is embroiled in a brand-new kind of scandal for her: public-relationship drama that involves … a man? She and Love Island U.K. star Chris Hughes entered the Celebrity Big Brother U.K. house on April 7 as strangers and, in just 21 days, exited with a relationship so close they defended it on British morning television. Siwa, who said she was “cussed out” by ex-partner Kath Ebbs at the show’s wrap party, insisted that Hughes had nothing to do with that breakup on an April 30 podcast. But after spending her 22nd birthday together and posting photos of them cuddling in bed, Siwa confirmed her relationship with the 32-year-old. How did all this happen in just weeks, live on-camera?
What went on in the house?
Siwa’s time in the Celebrity Big Brother house never had a dull moment. Hughes and Siwa first became close when former castmate Mickey Rourke was homophobic toward Siwa. Rourke told other housemates he was “going to vote the lesbian out real quick,” referring to Siwa. He then got into a near-physical altercation with Hughes during a pirate-themed challenge. Rourke was removed from the house by Big Brother for his behavior, leaving Siwa and Hughes a common enemy to bond over for the remainder of the competition. Both Hughes and Siwa were finalists on the program, with Hughes finishing in sixth place and Siwa in third.
After Rourke got booted, Siwa came out as queer, revealing in real time that she no longer identifies as a lesbian. Her relationship with Hughes started getting more intense on-camera. Siwa and Hughes were caught cuddling and accused of a forehead kiss in a hot tub, causing fans to wonder if their relationship was only platonic. “Christopher, the love that I’ve gained for you in this building is insane,” Siwa said to Hughes during their final dinner on the show. “You’re a one-of-a-kind gentleman, somebody who is so easy to love, so easy to laugh with. I really, really believe you are a vital part of my life that I didn’t know I was missing.”
When did Siwa and Ebbs break up?
Shortly after CBB ended, Siwa and her then-partner Kath Ebbs broke up. “Obviously, a lot of people think that Chris has something to do with it,” Siwa said on The Viall Files on April 30. “Chris does not have absolutely anything to do with it. Chris and I are friends.” Ebbs had previously claimed that Siwa had ended their relationship at the show’s wrap party: “I was told that there are confused feelings there. And that they had realized in the house that I wasn’t the person that they wanted to spend the foreseeable future with,” Ebbs shared in a TikTok on April 26. When asked about her ex’s video, Siwa claimed that it plays into a false narrative. “Don’t paint it out to look like I cheated on you with him, because I did not,” she said. “I will nail my feet into the ground, and I will stand on that ground. I did not, I would not, and I have not.”
Siwa offered her own account of the breakup on The Viall Files. According to Siwa, Ebbs initially did not want to come to the after-party. Siwa had suggested that they stay in separate hotels that night and meet up the following morning, which she said “rightfully” upset Ebbs. But at the time, Siwa didn’t feel like she was in the right headspace to talk. “I’m already having all these crazy thoughts that I’ve been having in the house and I need to formulate them,” explained Siwa, who has alluded to having multiple “realizations” about her gender and sexuality during the show and previously told ITV’s This Morning that being on CBB away from outside opinions made her realize “things that I was okay with in my life that I should never have been okay with.” According to Siwa, she needed time to talk to her mom, be alone, check her phone, and process her thoughts and feelings.
Siwa claims that Ebbs later changed their mind and decided to show up to the after-party after about an hour to have a conversation. “I’m getting cussed out,” Siwa recalled. “I understand, they’re angry and they’re coming at me. But I also keep reiterating, like, ‘I’m not in a place to talk.’ I was just with 13 people down to six, locked away for 20 days, I haven’t spoken to anybody. I’m now in a room with 200 people, we’re in this hut, it’s outside, I haven’t slept in 24 hours, I don’t know what’s going on.” Ebbs allegedly kept asking if Siwa was happy or wanted to “end things.” According to Siwa, she initially repeated, “I don’t know.” But after allegedly being asked “16 times,” Siwa had a new response: “I was honest and I said, ‘If you ask me tomorrow, I don’t know my answer. If you ask me right now, my answer is yes.’ And then that obviously was taken as yes.”
How did they explain their relationship?
On April 28, Siwa and Hughes told ITV’s This Morning their relationship is strictly platonic … for now. “Our friendship is hard to explain,” Hughes said. “It’s just a really strong bond between two people, which is just a strong friendship. I think you can have a soul-mate friendship, I think that’s a thing.”
When asked about the future of their relationship, Siwa avoided being too definite. “Look, he’s a great guy, it is platonic, we have a lot of fun together, life is life,” she said. “I don’t know any future of anything, but I am really grateful for our dynamic that we have, the bond that we have, and whatever life does, life will do.”
Previously, on April 25, Hughes told E! News that “we’re just messing around — we’re being kids,” adding, “JoJo was like a pure rock to me. She was someone I can have fun with. From a friendship point of view, yeah, of course I love her.”
So they’re friendly …
Friends who make out. In many ways, that’s what one’s 20s are for. Or early 30s, in Hughes’s case. On May 22, The Sun obtained pictures of Hughes and Siwa smooching in Mexico. But Siwa has not changed her tune regarding her relationship status. When pressed on the issue on U.K. morning show Lorraine days later, Siwa laughed incredulously at the idea she had a bf. “No. It’s funny to me how straight up people get these days,” she said.
However, if we know anything about JoJo Siwa, it’s that Orlando is a very sacred space to her. On May 20, Hughes posted pics on Instagram of what he called “the prettiest” seven days he spent in Orlando for Siwa’s 22nd birthday. The pair hugged in Disney Springs, held hands at Gideon’s Bakehouse, and cuddled in a hotel lobby. Siwa posted her own carousel of the two having a hotel-room breakfast, calling it “a week I’ll remember for the rest of my life.” And not just because she probably got to go inside Epic Universe.
Chris Hughes just posted pics of them in bed.
Well, that’s one way to hard-launch. A day later, Siwa confirmed Hughes is her boyfriend in a June 2 interview with The Guardian. “It’s not platonic any more, and it’s been a beautiful development, a beautiful connection, and I’m absolutely head over heels for him and he’s the same way,” she said. A beautiful (highly publicized) development indeed.
Chris Hughes shares new photo with JoJo Siwa. pic.twitter.com/FNULr5IvMm
— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 1, 2025
Redefining her sexuality
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Siwa explains the pressure she felt to come out as a lesbian, despite feeling like she was pansexual. “When I came out at 17, I said, ‘I’m pansexual, because I don’t care [about gender],’” she explained. “But then I kind of boxed myself in and I said, ‘I’m a lesbian.’ And I think I did that because of the pressure.” Siwa shared that she felt that pressure came from her past partners and other members of the LGBT community. “In a weird way, I think it came a little bit from inside the community at times,” she pondered. “From people I know, from partners I’ve had. You just get put in this world where you feel like, because you now have said, ‘Oh, I’m a lesbian,’ you have to be a lesbian. And the truth is, sexuality is fluid.”
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