'Empire' star Jussie Smollett comes out

One of Empire‘s most discussed and emotional storylines is undeniably that of Jamal (Jussie Smollett), the gay son of homophobic music titan Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard). 

Now, Smollett has officially come out of the closet in a YouTube segment taped after his apperance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “It was really important to me to make sure that it got across that there is no closet—there’s never been a closet that I’ve been in,” Smollett told DeGeneres. 

Smollett told EW on the set of the Fox hit in February how important this role and its impact has been on him. “It makes me wanna cry it really does,” Smollett said, his eyes welling up. “It’s really, really special. As artists, we don’t always get to do the roles that really mean something. To be able to tell this story is such an honor because I get so many letters from kids that say that they didn’t know where to turn, they didn’t have anybody to look up to. Somebody wrote me a letter after the second episode and they said that it gave them the strength to come out to their parents. To me, it’s such a blessing to be able to play Jamal because it’s making people somehow feel like they’re not alone.”