Teen Mom kid Isaac Rivera used Friday’s episode of his mom’s Barely Famous podcast to officially come out as gay– and reveal the new name he is now using.
Isaac– who is the son of Kail Lowry and Jo Rivera— revealed that he is now going by his middle name, Elliott, partly because he wants to separate the person he is today from the kid people watched grow up on ‘Teen Mom 2.’
“Obviously, this is a very sensitive subject, and maybe should be treated with care,” Kail said at the beginning of the episode. “I have some reservations about what we’re discussing today because, obviously, this is my son and I don’t want to ever put a target on his back or put him in a dangerous position. But with that being said, I still want him to live his truth and live authentically and be proud of who he is, because we’re proud of who he is.”
Kail got emotional throughout the hour-long interview with her son, crying what she called “tears of pride” for being proud of Elliott for being brave enough to do the podcast.
“We’re finally being able to share your story, on your terms, in your words,” she told the 15-year-old.
Elliott— who was born during Kail’s 2010 episode of 16 and Pregnant— stated that he decided to share his story on the podcast so fans could see who he is now.
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“I’m here today to show you who I am, not who you saw on TV for 12 years of my life,” Elliott stated. “…Growing up on TV, it’s hard to show who you really are when a camera’s in front of you all the time. It’s almost like you have a TV face. It’s harder to be yourself and be more comfortable because it’s going to be everywhere and all over the Internet.”
Although he chose to come out very publicly, Elliott acknowledged that many people don’t feel the need to do so.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to ‘come out,'” he said. “I’m doing it for me. You can do what you want. If you feel that it’s necessary to ‘come out,’ then do it. But if you don’t, then just be yourself. Like, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. So just be who you are and be true to yourself. At the end of the day, it’s for you.”
Elliott also addressed the fans of the show who have made comments like “oh, we always knew” that he was gay, or that his dad “didn’t like this.
“Things like that, it’s not necessary,” he said. “And I want to be clear, this is for me and I’ve built up the courage over time to make it known. Let me have my moment. I’m really sick of people coming up with their own stories and putting things in their own words. And things coming out on other people’s terms about me. My life isn’t entertainment for other people. My life is my life. I can do what I want with it, and for people to take things from my life, like personal stuff, is not OK. If I want to share that, I should share that on my terms.”
As for people who have stated that Elliott is “choosing to be gay,” Kail said that’s just ridiculous.
“Nobody’s choosing to put themselves in a place where they’re facing adversity and dangerous situations,” she said. “Nobody’s choosing to put themselves in the position where their family is kicking them out and they’re on the streets. Nobody’s choosing that… I’m speaking to the adults who are having children and maybe have family members who are homophobic. I’m speaking to you guys. One, maybe don’t have kids if you’re not going to love them unconditionally. That’s Number 1. And Number 2, your child is not choosing this. This is something I believe they’re born with.”
“Nobody would do that, with the things that [gay] people go through with that,” Elliott said. “You’re gonna choose the easy route.”
“But, like I said earlier, I think that when you have kids you have to choose to love them unconditionally because you cannot control who they love,” Kail stated. You cannot control what their sexuality is. For me, I never gave a f**k….because, at the end of the day, that part does not affect me and my life. It only affects you. Who you love is who you love. At the end of the day, I’m not going to sever a relationship with my child based off of who he loves or doesn’t love. I’m not going to forfeit a relationship with you.”
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Elliott advised parents who have LGBTQ+ kids to immerse themselves in the community to make themselves more comfortable and knowledgeable about their child.
“Go to a Pride event or talk to someone who’s gay,” he said. “…The first step is trying to build comfort and try to immerse yourself in the community. You just have to realize that we’re not different. We’re just regular people.”
“I also think that there are some people where they’re fine when it’s someone else’s kid,” Kail said. “It’s fine when it’s someone else’s kid until their kid is part of the queer community.”
Elliott also talked about how his siblings handled his coming out. (As fans know, Kail has six other kids including sons Lincoln, Lux, Creed, Rio and Verse, as well as daughter Valley. Elliott also has a sister, ViVi, who is the daughter of Jo and Vee Torres.)
“I feel like they just look at me and they’re like, ‘Oh that’s my brother. It doesn’t matter if he’s gay. He’s my brother.'” Elliott said.
“My other sons are around you, and you’re gay, and they’re not affected by it,” Kail said. “They don’t care. If anything, they’ll just ask you questions because they don’t know. But it’s almost, like, normalizing it for them because they don’t think any different of you. You’re just their brother.”
“Just because they’re around me, like you said, it’s not contagious!” Elliott added. “They’re not going to turn gay because of me. If they’re gay, they were born that way.”
Elliott also shot down some fans’ theories that actions by Kail or Jo have “made” him gay.
“People have said that you weren’t around your dad enough, or that I was doing certain things in my parenthood that ‘turned’ you gay. Do you feel like any of that is true?” Kail asked.
“No!” Elliott said, reminding fans that his parents have 50/50 custody of him and that’s he’s spent equal time with them.
“I think people confuse who they’re around, the parent, they confuse it with masculinity. It’s not about sexuality; it’s about how masculine/feminine they are,” he said.
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During the episode, Kail’s son also discussed why he now goes by his middle name, Elliott, rather than his first name Isaac, which is what he’s been known as publicly since he was born.
“I started going by Elliott because, at some point, I wasn’t happy with my first name. I don’t know…it just doesn’t feel like me in some way,” he explained.
Kail stated that, in her opinion, her son is using his middle name to “build a separation between who you were on ‘Teen Mom’ and who you are today,” something Elliott agreed with.
“That’s part of it,” he said.
“I can appreciate the separation between who you were [on the show] and who you are today,” Kail said. “I think that is cool for you to recognize. It’s cool for you to sort of decide what makes you comfortable. And that was your decision.”
Elliott stated his father’s family still calls him Isaac, and that he’s OK with it, since they have always known him by that name.
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“I didn’t expect that from them,” he said. “I didn’t expect it from you either. I didn’t think, like, ‘Oh, you have to call me Elliott. I don’t take any other name.’ But I would have been fine if you kept calling me Isaac because I know that transition would have been hard. And it was, a bit, because you’ve called me by my first name my whole life. I think the separation from my personal and my private life, and who I was on TV from who I am now, that’s like the main reason [for the name change]. But at some point, I just realized I like my middle name better.”
During the podcast, Elliott and Kail discussed how difficult it’s been for him to deal with invasions of privacy.
“Fans, don’t take something that I share with my personal life and put it publicly. At the same time, I also have to be more cautious with that,” he said, with Kail adding that she has recently had to explain to her son that whatever he shares privately on the Internet will eventually get “leaked.”
“Your private Internet life is not actually a private life,” she said, later adding, “Just because you grew up on TV, doesn’t mean you necessarily want to put all your business out there, like I do, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m teaching you to put all your business out there. What you choose for yourself should be respected by the listeners and the viewers…people can love you and not expect you to sell your soul to social media.”
They also discussed how, last month, numerous ‘Teen Mom’ social media pages posted photos of Elliott and his (male) date at their prom. (Elliott has never shared the photos himself, so The Ashley will not be posting them here.)
The photos were taken from private accounts belonging to his date and were not intended to be shared publicly. At the time of the photo leak, Elliott had already been planning to share his coming out story on the podcast, but he was still very unhappy that his personal pics went public without his permission.
“You were asked to prom by a junior, a male,” Kail said. “And those pictures and videos were leaked. And then I got home crying. How were you feeling when you saw everything was leaked?”
“I was devastated,” he said. “I also ugly-cried before you got home. It was very disappointing. Nobody knew we were planning this episode. It’s disappointing, going back to things being [released] on my terms. Even if you thought you knew I was gay already, it’s disappointing that I couldn’t share it on my terms. And the way it happened was just not OK.”
“It was just a violation,” Kail said. “It wasn’t even about respect. It was the fact that you’re a minor and it was a huge violation of your privacy in general, and that was really, really heartbreaking.”
“Honestly, it’s not even about just me anymore,” Elliott added. “It’s about the people who are in those pictures. It’s about their safety.”
Kail stated that having the photos leaked put both Elliott and his date in a dangerous situation by exposing something they may not have wanted to have exposed publicly.
“I think just to have your post go viral, or for your post get likes or for that instant gratification of yourself, you leaked photos of minors just to say you heard it first or you had the information first. You knew it, you called it,” Kail said.
“People don’t understand that if I don’t share it, it shouldn’t be out there,” Elliott added.
Kail stated that, after the leak, Elliott came to her angry and said he was ready to come out publicly on Instagram, but she discouraged him, stating he deserved to tell his story how he wanted to— and make money off of it, rather than random TikTok creators profiting off of it.
“It made me nervous for you to post something on Instagram and then other people to screen-record, make videos, and make money off of you coming out,” Kail said. “It’s exploitative and it’s not fair. And so, if you’re going to share your story, you should be able to tell your story in your own words. I’m not making a dime of profit off of this. This is going to you. So you have the right to tell your story, but you should be the one that’s benefitting from your story.
“For everyone out there that this was done for money, it’s not. Elliott felt like it was time to share his story, and, in my opinion, he should be the one that collects any money that comes from it. It’s his story, his words, his terms,” Kail said.
“It’s important for me to hopefully inspire other people and help other people who are in the same situation, or similar situation, work through it the best that they can,” Elliott added.
Click here to listen to the full podcast episode.
RELATED STORY: Former ‘Teen Mom 2’ Star Kail Lowry Says Teenage Son Isaac Wants to Get Into Acting: “I Love That For Him”
(Photos: Instagram; MTV)
63 Responses
“Kailyn Lowry’s Son Elliott Claims ‘Ex-Friend’ Outed Him to Classmates” Oh stop it. This is main character syndrome
Anyone that has eyes and that has watched this show could see that Elliott was gay. Its not “news”. Exploiting your child’s sexuality for money is disgusting and pathetic. But then again, I expect nothing of miss piggy.
*nothing less
-“Kail stated that, after the leak, Elliott came to her angry and said he was ready to come out publicly on Instagram, but she discouraged him, stating he deserved to tell his story how he wanted to— and make money off of it”
-“For everyone out there that this was done for money, it’s not. Elliott felt like it was time to share his story, and, in my opinion, he should be the one that collects any money that comes from it. It’s his story, his words, his terms,” Kail said”
…So, what is it Kail? You literally told him he deserved to tell his story how he wanted to- and make money off of it, yet, you are saying also, this wasn’t done for the money? We all know you… This is all about the attention AND Money. And like you aren’t going to touch a dime? Doubtful. SMH
I commend him for coming out. However, I can’t shake the idea that it feels exploitive by his mom to get people talking about her podcast. These cast members do anything to get people talking about them. I have a hard time believing this is any different.
I might get backlash but don’t really care to be honest. If I was a boy who watched his mom have multiple kids with multiple men, I would probably want to do a name change as well. She has had that kid on TV since he was born. I am sure he has seen quite a bit of issues with everyone of those men. I would want to come out and say I am gay too, so he wouldn’t be knocking girls up. I hope Elliott gets paid for all these years being on that show. I would bet that he has not received a dime from it. It took a lot for him to open up and let the world know. He is such a sweet person and I wish him the best.
I agree with how Elliot said that no one would choose to be gay if it was an option because look at all they have to go through just to live their life! As long as no one is being hurt & everyone is of age, who cares who someone else loves? Let people be happy.
Good for him! He’s always been such a sweet kid and growing into a young adult anyone would be proud of.
But I was also taken aback of Joe, he looks like such a dad. Which he is, lol, but’s so dadish.
Isaac Elliott seems to be a sweet teen. Unfortunately, his mother has brought man after man into her home and had 6 children with 3 men after Elliott. Jo and Vee appear to be the most stable people in his life. Kailyn is too busy looking out for Kailyn and where she can find a new man to bring home to be her next boyfriend or baby daddy!
Elliott has had to watch this his whole life. Lincoln has had to also. What a great Mom she is.
When she told Elliott that he needed to tell his story his way and make money off of it, that really showed how much she cares about MONEY and NOT her son!
Jo and Vee, please do something to help Elliott! He needs your support and a life without Kail pushing him to make money off literally everything he does! She is evil! Good luck to Elliott!
Elliott is so cute! I’m proud of him for setting that boundary with the shows fans. I hope they respect it for all the kids. The people who posted his prom pics are a holes and should feel bad they made this kid ugly cry. I can’t believe it’s 2025 and people still think it’s okay to out others.
It sounds like his date posted some prom picks and then some larger Teen Mom following accounts re-posted them for the “shock and awe” of being able to break the news that Isaac Elliot is gay.
Which, yeah, that’s not cool, and they’re doing it “go viral” and make money or clout off of being the first person to bring those photos to a larger audience. …But, if you publicly post something to social media, as his date did, you can’t claim that it’s private and no one should look at it or share it. The app you posted it to is FOR sharing things that you have found on the app that you find interesting or compelling.
If this was the case of someone taking a photo of them at Prom without their knowledge and then selling it to a tabloid, I would also be outraged. But like, the person in the photo publicly posted the photo…..
Edit: I have re-read the article and his date posted the photos to a private social media page, not a fully “open to the entire internet” public page.
I still feel like you have to know there’s a risk with that. You have to know all of those people you’re sharing with will be able to pass that image on, and some might, for money, clout, the drama of it all, etc.
Just don’t post to social media at all if you don’t want things that you post to be out there in the world! Make a photo album and let people look at that, while their phones stay firmly in their pockets.
This is pretty much common sense, but unfortunately teens don’t have much of that lol.
I haven’t watched this show in ages but I remember Isaac being the sweetest little boy. It used to make me sad what he was stuck with as a mom.
I really dislike this bitch. Being gay is not news.
It’s always about the money for Karl.
And the reason he has to change his name is because of HER. SHE was the one who forced him to be on TV for 12 yrs. SHE is why those photos of his prom got leaked. ALL of this falls on that money hungry baby maker.
At least he won’t be knocking up his girlfriend at 16.
It makes sense, no? He grew up seeing the worst of women.
This whole thing is so weird to me. He is going by a different name to separate himself from Teen Mom yet he goes on a podcast by a former teen mommer that has had 150 mil downloads overtime to announce his separation. I think either gay people love to make a big deal over being gay or his mom was behind this.
Kail wants attention and pats on the back for this. It’s her standard M.O.
Weird is right. Do people actually listen to her podcast? No one would know or care about her kid’s life if she didn’t splash her own trashy life all over the internet. And who can keep any of her litter of brats straight anyway?
I also slightly side-eyed the “he’s going by Elliot to separate himself from the kid people knew on Teen Mom…” Though, reading further into the article, it honestly sounds like he just likes the name Elliot more, and wants to go by that….and Kail is trying to make into it a “separating yourself from your Teen Mom image/name/persona…” He’s not been on the show for years, yet the name-preference is a new thing. He’s also not distancing himself from appearing on Teen Mom’s Kail’s podcast….where they talk a lot about how he was on Teen Mom….
I think Kail is trying to make the name preference a bigger thing about MTV and Teen Mom, whereas Elliot is just like “I like this name better and if my friends and anyone new I meet will call me Elliot, I’m happy with that….but it’s not like calling me Isaac would be dead naming me, because I’m also cool with people who knew me as Isaac my whole life to keep calling me Isaac.”
It sounds like Kail is just over dramatizing the whole thing, as usual.
They think they’re celebrities. Why did they have to announce it? I mean everyone knew. Kail only did it for money. Kail is already posting photos of her new man with her babies. I guess she’s not doing that to be a b. She’ll always give her bd hell. She’ll always have other people raise her kids.
I’m not listening to her stupid podcast (nothing against Elliot), I cannot stand her voice. Did they mention if Jo is supportive?
I’m happy for Elliot for sharing his story at his own time. And of course he’d share it on his mom’s podcast. Although I feel like he was pushed to share it by the fans. Who are mostly grown adults and had been assuming his sexuality, obsessing over it by talking about it 24/7, for years. Adults being obsessed with a minor’s sexuality is beyond creepy and very pedo like. Some of them are now even saying Elliot is going to transition to being a girl and go by Ellie all because he decided to go by his middle name instead. Which lots of people do, no matter their sexuality. Anyway, I’m just here happy for Elliot like a proud aunt.
Thank you.
Why is a child’s sexuality a topic?
Kail should have NEVER let this be a public conversation.
Jesus, how old is jo? He looks like 10 lbs of crap stuffed into a 5 lb sack.
Could agree more!
Being normal is eccentric in that family.
It really sucks that people think it’s okay to post photos of someone else without their consent.
It was clear when he was like five.
A normal mother would say “no, you are to young to foresee the consequences of this “. But Kail loves the attention and money. It’s also interesting how she manages to talk about herself and her feelings in every sentence.
May God bless and protect him.
But it’s ok for a boy/girl to date at 15? Hypocrite.
Um wut
A normal mom thinks about her child’s well being before she lets whatever opinions not based on science are popular at the moment bother or influence her.
The earth is not flat, Darwin was a smart and good guy, there was never anything in the bible that could defend slavery, nor that it’s okay to hit your wife, nor does the bible say being gay or queer is wrong. It’s all about who you listen to and who they listen to. Chose wise.
I can respect that Elliot is being very cool about family still referring to him as Isaac because that is what they’ve known him as his whole life to this point. Say what you want about Kail but her oldest seems to have a good head on his shoulders.
He is very lucky to have Kail as a mom, as she is very supportive of him, whatever you want to say about her, and there is plenty to say, she is a good mom who clearly wants the best for her children.
Pat, good mom’s don’t have 7 kids by FOUR men!!! 1 (2 tops) but not 4
Kail isn’t slick deflecting from 2 of her baby daddies calling her out on her crap so she’s using her son (per usual) to put out something bigger. I’ll never forgot how she really had (then Issac) get online & flat out lie about her not being pregnant.
People have been speculating about his sexuality for YEARS which is absolutely gross considering his still a minor and he was even younger back then.
I hope they are happy now that he’s out and can leave him alone.
“If anybody is going to exploit my child for monetary gain, it’s going to be me.” -Kail, probably.
We’ve been knowing sweet boy , and you are loved just as you are ❤️
Let me say , I commented before I read the article. I have not listened to the podcast . And If I could delete this comment now , I would. Out of respect for Elliot who doesn’t want people to say they have always known, or anything like that . My apologies
Lots of people hate their birth name. I’ve hated my birth name since I was six years old.And haven’t gone by it since when you don’t like an a name, there is no confusion on it.You just don’t like your name, and that’s not gonna just up iand change, because you figure out who you are. It’s been 38 years.. And i’m finally going to legally change it, too because I don’t have anybody to worry about guilty me.Overtchanging, something that I don’t like.
I like how chaos all’s talking about how if somebody might exploit his coming out on instagram, but yet she explained it him for most of his life to make money
I really can’t believe your parents named you Farrah Lips!!
🤪
There was really no need for him to come out…even to his mom. Because it’s a very obvious
She needs to respect his wishes, because in bringing him on the podcast to share this news/name change, it isn’t distancing him from TM.
I love Issac but let me tell you. It’s never a good sign psychologically when someone wants to change their name. Unfortunately I see this a lot in the gay/bi community. His name isn’t Elliot, he’s Issac, this isn’t about teen mom.. even if it’s a part of his gay identity he’s confused I think
That is not true. At all. My son changed his name. He isnt gay and it was to erase a past. My son was made jr to his birth father and my husband adopted him so he wanted to change his name to restart as who he with no connection to his sperm donor. My mother was furious and refused to accept him with his new name and said she would never call him it, no matter what. And it was extremely disrespectful and even condescending to his story. It doesn’t have anything to do with other people or sexuality or mental health even. People do it for a reset of sorts.
Diddy
My daughter wanted to be called “Mykey” when she was younger. Now she goes by her birth name, Cheyenne. I never really bothered questioning her too much about it. She wasn’t hurting anyone. People do WAAYY worse things than choosing a name.
Who are you to tell people who they are and why? It’s disrespectful to not call someone by their chosen name. Who are you to say he’s confused. You don’t even know him.
And you got your degree in psychology where exactly? Because if you keep running your mouth I’m going to tell you what my degree is in and why everything you’re saying is 100% incorrect. Would you like to know the clinical definition of narcissistic personality disorder? Because you are showing some concerning signs with just your words. Histrionic personality disorder is also on the table. Get help. Seriously. This is a child. It’s concerning the amount of authority you’re trying to put into the way you are speaking about a minor you have never met. It’s deranged. And Diddy has nothing to do with this and no place in this conversation. Lots of people chance their names but you went with the one currently on trial instead of say, Meta World Peace or Snoop Dogg. That screams “give me attention.” Very sad.
Lots of people go by nicknames. Lots of people go by their middle name. He didn’t legally change his name. He just decided that Elliot suited him better than Issac. It has absolutely nothing to do with him being gay. To say it’s a psychological red flag is incredibly ignorant. My cousin comes from a long line of women with the same first and middle name. She got tired of people mistaking her for her mom or her grandma, so she goes by her middle name. She’s not gay or bi. She straight, married to a male, and has 4 kids. I legally changed my full name as a way to separate myself from my birth family after being adopted. I’m not gay or bi. I’m asexual. There are SO MANY reasons why someone might change their name or have a chosen name. Elliot has expressed that this is the name he prefers. If the pope can take on a new name and have the whole world respect it, I think you can do the same for a child you literally don’t know.
My oldest prefers going by her middle name. She just doesn’t like her first name. There’s nothing psychologically wrong with her. It’s a fucking preference. (She’s straight btw, not that that matters AT ALL)
Keep your kids off social media y’all. You will be happy you did.
Honestly if anyone needs to be disrespectful and comment on this, or any of his posts, or podcasts; what a despicable human being. He seems like an amazing person! It sucks someone leaked something and he felt the need to do this, but if he were my son I would be proud to be his mama! You go Elliot!
I’ve always thought he was genuinely a good person who is wise and pure. I accept you Elliot, you are a rockstar! Also, I am blow away by how good kail looks! You go girl!
You forgot to include Rio when naming Kail’s other 6 kids (I know, I know – easy to do right? lol)
Yay, Elliott! He has always been an exceptional human (despite his parents). So glad Kail at least got his coming out right. Happy Pride and have the amazing life you deserve, Young Man!
So it’s ok for Kail to exploit her own child instead? Makes sense.
Wishing Elliot happiness, he’s a child who deserves privacy.