Magic Johnson Supports Son EJ Living His 'Truth' With Powerful Tribute

Magic Johnson is arguably one of the most influential athletes of our time and it can't be easy growing up in his shadow. The three-time NBA MVP award winner is a father to three — his sons Andre Johnson and EJ Johnson, as well as his daughter Elisa Johnson. While his two other children mainly stay out of the spotlight, EJ rose to fame when he starred in "Rich Kids of Beverly Hills." He then went on to star in his own show, "EJNYC" with his sister Elisa and has since appeared as a host on "Fashion Police" and "E! News."

By then, EJ was out after TMZ captured him during a night out holding a man's hand in 2013. Magic's response was, "Cookie and I love EJ and support him in every way. We're very proud of him." Since then, EJ has become quite the influencer for the LGBTQ+ community and on his 31st birthday, his father publicly shared his pride for him.

EJ Johnson celebrated turning 31 on June 5 and his father Magic Johnson shared a heartfelt message. "Happy Birthday to my son, EJ!! I love your pure heart and creativity! Keep living your truth, it's what I love about you most! Have a great day," he penned on Instagram while sharing a picture of him and EJ at the "They Call Me Magic" premiere and another one of the two with EJ's mom Cookie Johnson.

Back in 2017, Magic shared on "The Ellen Show" how he was able to support EJ's coming out. "I think it's all about you not trying to decide what your daughter or son should be, or what you want them to become. It's all about loving them no matter who they are, what they decide to do, and when my son came out I was so happy for him and happy for us as parents. We love him and EJ is amazing," he reflected. The former Los Angeles Lakers player emphasized how important it was to support your children. "It's so many people who try to discriminate against them, so they need you to support them. Because if you don't support them, who's going to support them and love them?" Magic added. Although he is proud of his son openly coming out, Magic wasn't always so understanding of EJ being gay and it took some time to accept the news.

As an athlete, Magic Johnson naturally wondered if his sons would follow in his footsteps. When EJ came out to his family at 17 years old, it was not an easy time. "He's not somebody who works great being cornered or surprised. It was a lot for him to swallow. A lot of going back and forth," EJ said of his father, per Variety. After a few months, Magic showed EJ he had fully accepted that his son was gay during a visit to New York. "He hugged me so hard — he was, like, squeezing all the air out of me. That's when I knew, there's nothing but love here," the television personality revealed. "He changed me. He was so proud. This dude here is just so proud of who he is," Magic asserted.

During a 2013 interview with TMZ, Magic acknowledged the backlash that he and EJ got, especially from the African-American and religious communities. "We're such involved in our church, in the religion, and Cookie and I go to church every Sunday. So we're involved in that — but this is our son, so we're going to support our son, we're going to love our son," he declared. Magic predicted that EJ coming out would help many young black men, and true to his words, his son became one of the biggest representatives of the LGBTQ+ community.

EJ Johnson has made a big impact on the LGBTQ+ community. The television personality can now add "actor" to his list of accomplishments, but his role as Michael Collins in "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder" takes on a special meaning to him. "It's amazing and it's really exciting to bring the character to life and allow young people, who are like me, or similar to me, to see themselves represented. I think another great thing about the character is, as we both kind of shared in high school, that we were just there with the friend group," EJ told Entertainment Tonight.

EJ coming out in 2013 also helped Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade when their daughter Zaya came out as transgender in 2020. Magic Johnson shared with Entertainment Tonight, "We've always been people who try to do the right thing and do the thing we were supposed to do. No way we were not gonna support our son ... And then because of that, Dwyane and Gabs said, 'Oh man, look at that.' We are looking at our part, do our own thing with our own son, so if we can help anybody just by being who we are, just by doing the right thing, that's a good thing and a powerful thing."