In ET's sneak peek at 'Family Karma,' Dillon Patel and his mom, Kalpna, recall the moment he came out as gay.
Family Karma is keeping things in theme with Pride month, celebrating the coming out story of new cast member Dillon Patel -- and ET has your exclusive first look at the emotional moment. Dillon and his mom, Kalpna, recall the moment Dillon, 26, came out as gay, while in college. He wrote an open letter in the school newspaper, which he then sent to his parents after it had been published. Traditionally, being gay is considered taboo in Indian culture.
"My relationship with my mom has gotten significantly stronger over time," Dillon shares. "At the beginning, my mom cried. I mean, we both cried for, like, weeks."
"He calls us, like, 11:00 at night. 'Mom, I have emailed you and Dad something, I really need you guys to read it and call me.' And I'm reading it, says, 'Dear Mom...'" Kalpna recalls, getting choked up. "I wasn't expecting it, and I think reading it made me feel like, how come I didn't see it? It's like you have this dream for your kid and all of a sudden, it's different, right? I mean, this was six years ago. Now we talk about it like it's nothing."
Watch them share more in the clip here:
Dillon and Kalpna also weigh in on his current romantic prospects, with Dillon saying, "When it comes to who I'm dating, I think my mom says she doesn't care if they're Indian or not. She definitely cares. She literally tried to hook me up with my cousin once! Well, he was, like, a fifth cousin, but she's like, 'Well, you're not reproducing.'"
"I'd like to see Dillon get engaged one day," Kalpna admits. "I always tell him, I'll have another son-in-law."
When ET spoke with Dillon's childhood friend/co-star Anisha Ramakrishna ahead of the season 2 premiere, she gushed over how proud she was of him and their castmate Amrit Kapai, who is also openly gay, for sharing their stories on TV.
"I think in 10 years, people are going to watch Family Karma and their minds are going to be blown," Anisha remarked, "because we're in it right now, so we don't realize how important it is for, not only TV history, but for minorities, of all people. And so I think Amrit, and Dillon, they're doing big things for the LGBTQIA community. And you're going to see -- I don't want to give away story -- but a lot. You're going to see a lot of progress with them, as well as in their individual stories that you would never see. I don't think you've ever seen, actually on TV. You've never seen South Asians do what they're doing on our show on TV. It's never been done. So I think that's pretty iconic."
For more from Anisha, watch the video below. Family Karma airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
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