Wayne Brady joined his blended family for a new, revealing episode of 'Spilling the E-Tea.'
Wayne Brady is getting candid about why he kept his sexuality a secret from the public and from those closest to him for years.
Wayne recently sat down with his blended family -- including his ex-wife and business partner, Mandie Taketa, their daughter, Maile, 21, and Mandie's life partner, Jason Michael Fordham, who previously worked for Wayne as a dancer and shares son Sundance-Isamu with Mandie -- for a new installment of "Spilling the E-Tea" and opened up about his sexuality and their unique dynamic.
Wayne, 52, stars alongside Mandie, Maile and Jason in their new reality show, Wayne Brady: The Family Remix, and the longtime comic and TV personality was asked by his ex-wife why it took so long for him to come out as pansexual to her.
"The answer is easy -- because I didn't know! Like, I didn't know what it was even called," Wayne explained. "It's not like I had this secret that I was sitting on and at night I was pansexual Batman going out."
"I didn't know what it was called because I think that we've come so far with the lexicon with those terms, right? And understanding and acceptance," he continued. "Because back in the day, it was very much, 'Well are you gay and are you not?'"
"Knowing, well, maybe I find that person attractive, but that's a man, but I also think this woman is attractive, but also learning that it's not just as black and white as those two things. For me, it took all this time and all this work and all this therapy and all this fight in therapy to get [away from] the language that is instilled in you," Wayne explained.
The comic said he was "nervous to say it out loud" when he first came out to his ex-wife, explaining that she is his "closest friend" and his biggest fear was her abandoning him and their friendship.
Wayne and Mandie tied the knot in 1999, but wound up divorcing seven years later. Still, they've remained close friends and business partners over the decades since.
Nearly a year ago, Wayne publicly came out as pansexual. As he explained to ET at the time, he looks at pansexuality as being "able to love whomever I want no matter the vessel."
"I'm saying it is very possible for me to be attracted to the man because of the person," he explained, "and I can be attracted to this beautiful woman like you because of the person."
In sharing his truth, the star has gained a sense of freedom.
"The best part is, now that I've said this out loud, I don't have to worry," Wayne told ET at the time. "I could show up at a red carpet. I could be at Denny's for all you know, I'm not ducking anybody... because it is what it is, and I'm free to do that."
Wayne Brady: The Family Remix will premiere on Freeform on Wednesday, July 24, at 10 p.m. ET and the next day on Hulu.
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