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Cookie Johnson Tells Oprah She Struggled To Accept Son EJ Coming Out As Gay

cookie johnson

Cookie Johnson, wife of basketball great Magic Johnson, opens up to Oprah Winfrey, in a preview clip from an upcoming episode of Super Soul Sunday, about her struggled to accept her son EJ Johnson coming out as gay.

“You’re Christian, you believe in the word, you live by the word. How did you reconcile what Christianity says about being gay with your loving of your son, and still remaining Christian?” Winfrey asks Johnson.

Related: NCAA College Star Derrick Gordon Says NBA Didn’t Give Him A Shot Because He’s Gay 

“That was a very hard thing for me,” she admits. “That was a very, very hard thing for me. I tried everything, but finally I just said to myself, ‘This child is innocent. He was like this when he was a baby. It can’t be wrong. It can’t be wrong.”

Shade runs in the family @cjbycookie #teamthis

A photo posted by EJ Johnson (@ejjohnson_) on

“I had to pray about it,” she adds. “This was one of those moments where I had to go directly to God and I prayed…and the answer I got back was love. And He said, ‘I give you all great gifts and the greatest of that gift is love.’ And so, that’s when I knew I could love my son and support him on who he was, and I was okay with it…I made peace with God with it. So I’m good.”

Related: Cookie Johnson Says It Was Important For Gay Son To Know He Had His Parents’ Support 

Super Soul Sunday airs Sundays, 11 a.m. ET, on OWN. Watch video previews below.

cookie johnson oprah winfrey

In 2014, EJ presented his parents with the HRC Upstander Award:

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