Brothers Osborne Recall Emotional Moment TJ Came Out — and the Joke John Made to 'Break Awkward Tension'

Both TJ and John Osborne can still recall the emotional moment that TJ came out as gay to his brother — although both admit that there were some hints along the way.

The country stars and Brothers Osborne bandmates sat down for an interview on SiriusXM's Exit 209 with Storme Warren podcast, and while TJ, 37, said he finally opened up to John, 40, at a restaurant in Nashville around the time they signed their first record deal, John revealed that he had had an inkling.

"As his older brother you just kind of know, but it's not my place to ask," John explained, to which TJ joked: "When you saw my internet history you kind of knew."

"Yeah. I was like, wow. Interesting," John replied, laughing.

Though TJ said that he's known he was gay since "before I even understood what it was," he'd "never discussed it with anyone" — and while he'd long wanted to come out, only found the right moment as the band's career picked up. While it remains unclear when the conversation between the brothers took place, they signed with EMI Records Nashville in 2012.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Brothers Osborne

"I was like, 'Hey, before we sign this and we get kind of tangled up, contractually entangled in something, you need to know that this is a thing that I need to tell you about me that I think you might know, but I also want you to know that I do intend on coming out at some point,'" he recalled. "'I don't know when that is, but I don't want to live my life closeted.'"

He continued: "I knew that I wanted to tell John then and at that point I had come out to a couple people that I thought really needed to know, but beyond that, I just kind of just did my thing and so John was always obviously incredibly supportive of that."

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"It's not my place to pry or ask, but I knew eventually he would have to tell me for him, you know, because the people that I'm closest to in my life are my brother and my wife [Lucie] and my family and you have to be honest and open with those people, which allows you to be vulnerable, which is where real life happens, right?" John said.

John said he was overcome with emotion during their chat, mostly out of happiness that TJ felt able to tell him. He said he'd "deduced" his brother's sexuality for a while, as TJ had never openly been in a relationship, but seemed to know about them and was able to write about love.

"To break awkward tension, I just remember saying, 'Well, you don't have to worry TJ because the other member in your band is a raging heterosexual, so I'm here to balance you out,'" he recalled. "I just wanted to say something to make someone laugh and it was after that we just had drinks. I felt so much happiness and joy for him and it was a beautiful, beautiful night."

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Abi Ventura, TJ Osborne, John Osborne and Lucie Silvas

TJ, who recently said that all Brothers Osborne song lyrics are and will remain gender-neutral, came out publicly in Time magazine in February 2021.

The "Skeletons" singer is currently dating boyfriend Abi Ventura, whom he brought as his date to the 2021 CMA Awards in November. In a buzz-worthy moment, the two shared a celebratory kiss after Brothers Osborne won vocal duo of the year.

While TJ acknowledged that coming out took him "a lot longer" than he thought it would, the musician said he knew that he wanted to do so "at the height of his career."

"But then it was like, how the hell do you know when you're at the height of your career? You know, you don't really know that until you're on the way down and then it's too late," he said. "So I didn't want it to seem like it was trying to be opportunistic or trying to get headlines to get attention."

RELATED VIDEO: TJ Osborne Says He's So Much More at Ease After Coming Out and Hopes He "Inspires People to Live Their Life"

Still, the singer said he feels as though his announcement "went off really, really well."

The duo released their third studio album Skeletons in 2020, and won a Grammy Award for best country duo/group performance earlier this year.

The track that helped them take home the prize, "Younger Me," was written after TJ came out, and focuses on his experience coming to terms with his experience.