This former 'Glee' star just came out as Transgender

pulse

June 24, 2017 2:01 PM

Charice has an important announcement to make: The 25-year-old now goes by the name Jake Zyrus.

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Now, Charice has an important announcement to make: The 25-year-old now goes by the name Jake Zyrus.

After deleting his old social media accounts, Jake debuted his new name on Sunday. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the love and respect,” he wrote on Instagram. “I love you back and I’m sending peace to everyone.” He also had this to say on Twitter:

Jake's news isn’t out of the blue for fans: He told Oprah Winfrey in 2014 that his “soul is male.” Jake came out as gay the year before, and said he knew his sexual identity when he was 5. "I was in grade school, and I saw this girl, and I felt different. I didn't know what it was, but I just knew that time, like it felt special. And when I was 10, I was like, 'Oh, that's it. I'm gay.' I found the word,” he said at the time.

However, Jake had initially expressed reluctance to transition to male. “I'm not going to go through that stage where I'm going to change everything, so, not change my body,” he said at the time. “I would change this look. Like cut my hair, wear boy clothes and everything. But that's all."

Jake became the first Asian solo singer in history to land in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart with the release of 2010’s Charice, which debuted at No. 8, per People.

On Glee, Jake played Sunshine Corazon, a singer and foreign exchange student who joins New Directions and has a rivalry with Lea Michele’s Rachel Berry. The character eventually switched to the rival club Vocal Adrenaline before shifting back to New Directions.

Jake tweeted on Tuesday that’s he’s “forever grateful” for the support. “Let’s just love one another. I love you all. I really do. I reaaaaalllyyyy ddddoooo,” he wrote.

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