"I instantaneously felt like I wish I had done this a long time ago," country singer TJ Osborne told Ellen DeGeneres during a recent appearance on her talk show. The singer stopped by "Ellen" by way of a video chat last week, a day after TIME Magazine ran an interview in which he came out as gay. Calling the response to his coming out "wild," Osborne, 36, went on to say that the "wave of love" that greeted him made for "a very emotional day." DeGeneres sympathized, nothing that "straight people don't ever have to shove something down and then all of a sudden say to someone, 'I'm straight!' "I was asked, like, 'Why do you have to do this?' " Osborne said in response. "And in a perfect world I wish I didn't have to." The star went on to share that, "I kind of got to this point to where I knew that there was never going to be the perfect time" to come out. Now that he's accomplished that feat, Osborne said he now knows that "the perfect time is always now." As many LGBTQ people have upon coming out, Osborne described his embrace of authenticity as "a weight off of my shoulders" - an oppression replaced by the liberating sense that he's now been welcomed for who he really is. "People that I feel like personify masculinity and the straight culture" were "coming out with a lot of pride for me," Osborne told Ellen. "That was really the moment to me that made me feel like, 'Wow, that was there the whole time.'" Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork ?️‍?????⁠ ⁠ ?️: Kilian Melloy / @dragelruairi ⁠ ?: Amy Harris / AP

"I instantaneously felt like I wish I had done this a long time ago," country singer TJ Osborne told Ellen DeGeneres during a recent appearance on her talk show. The singer stopped by "Ellen" by way of a video chat last week, a day after TIME Magazine ran an interview in which he came out as gay. Calling the response to his coming out "wild," Osborne, 36, went on to say that the "wave of love" that greeted him made for "a very emotional day." DeGeneres sympathized, nothing that "straight people don't ever have to shove something down and then all of a sudden say to someone, 'I'm straight!' "I was asked, like, 'Why do you have to do this?' " Osborne said in response. "And in a perfect world I wish I didn't have to." The star went on to share that, "I kind of got to this point to where I knew that there was never going to be the perfect time" to come out. Now that he's accomplished that feat, Osborne said he now knows that "the perfect time is always now." As many LGBTQ people have upon coming out, Osborne described his embrace of authenticity as "a weight off of my shoulders" - an oppression replaced by the liberating sense that he's now been welcomed for who he really is. "People that I feel like personify masculinity and the straight culture" were "coming out with a lot of pride for me," Osborne told Ellen. "That was really the moment to me that made me feel like, 'Wow, that was there the whole time.'" Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork ?️‍?????⁠
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?️: Kilian Melloy / @dragelruairi ⁠
?: Amy Harris / AP