Lauren Jauregui Says That Leaked Photos “Definitely Outed” Her Before She Was Ready to Come Out as Bisexual

Lauren Jauregui just opened up about her coming out experience as a teen, which she says didn't exactly go the way she hoped it would. The former Fifth Harmony member made an appearance on the latest episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans, where she reflected on being outed by the press while she was still part of the girl group.

"I'd been dating the girlfriend that I've had at the time for probably a year at that point, but we had fallen in love when I was 15," she told the Estefans. "I was at my uncle's wedding in New Orleans and my aunt very innocently posted the photos from the photo booth onto her Facebook page." She went on to say that the link to the photo album was for her family, but fans were quick to find the picture where she was kissing her girlfriend at the time.

Lauren revealed that the photo then fell into the hands of celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who she claims outed her with one of his posts.

"He definitely outed me. I wasn't ready because I'm also Latina," the "Lento" singer explained. "There was that whole looming thing of, 'What is my community going to feel about me? Are they even going to accept me?' I know that my family obviously accepted me. But was that something that I was willing to deal with on a public scale? I felt like my own process was violated."

Perez Hilton, who has outed celebrities like Lance Bass and Neil Patrick Harris in the past, took to Twitter to share his stance on Lauren's situation.

"When I apologize for something — [it's] because I meant it and am genuinely remorseful," he wrote. "I am NOT sorry for that tweet about @LaurenJauregui. That was not 'outing' her."

He went on to explain that her fans were the ones who made the photos go viral online and that he only chimed in when they were already circulating his timeline. "I don't regret that. I never claimed or presumed anything about her sexuality," he finished his statement.

After the interview aired, Lauren posted a series of tweets to encourage her fans to abstain from sending hateful messages to anyone. "I wanna be clear that I'm speaking about these things from a healed place," she wrote. "I don't wanna rehash drama or center my story on either of these happenings, they were my contribution to a larger conversation of cyber bullying."

"It doesn't matter who they are or what was done, returning venom doesn't solve anything and it contributes to this nasty culture of anonymously telling someone to harm themselves or sending them harmful things," she continued. "I don’t condone that, I don't want any of you doing that in my defense."

Ahead of her Red Table Talk appearance, Lauren released a 7-song EP called PRELUDE, which features songs like "Colors" and "On Guard" featuring 6lack. According to People, Perez has not spoken to Lauren since the incident but has reached out to her ex-girlfriend who was also pictured.

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