'Empire' Star Jussie Smollett Opens Up About Being Gay

"Empire" star Jussie Smollett spoke with Out magazine for its March issue, opening up about his sexuality after publicly coming out as gay last year.

"I am a gay man with an extremely open heart. God, I've never had to talk about this, so I'm trying to find the words. If I had to label myself, I would label myself as a gay man," he said. "With that said, I believe that love is the only thing that matters, and I would hope that anybody would leave themselves open -- not to gender, but to love."

"I would hope that people would not close themselves off from what could be if, lo and behold, you meet somebody that just sweeps you off your feet, and you just can't do anything about it," Smollett, 31, continued. "If we truly believe that we are born this way, then why do we try to stifle the way we were born? If I fall in love down the road with a woman, I'm going to love that woman."

On Fox's breakout musical drama "Empire" Smollett plays Jamal Lyon, a gay R&B singer who publicly comes out even though his recording industry magnate father, played by Terrance Howard, doesn't approve.

Real life imitated art when Smollett found himself in a somewhat similar situation: Addressing rumors about his sexuality, the actor appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in March of last year and said he's "never been in the closet" and wanted to keep his personal life private.

"I was ready to talk about it," Smollett told Out. "[Ellen] told me, 'You don't have to.' I will be forever grateful to Ellen for the kindness she showed me. And that made me want to talk about it."

He also talked about his co-star Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson, who plays his mother Cookie Lyon. Smollett said she's been supportive about his coming out.

"She said, 'Who gives a fuck? I don't tell these motherfuckers that I'm straight. Why the fuck do you have to tell them that you're gay?'" he told the magazine. "That was so O.G., and it just made me love her even more."

He also discussed what love and relationships mean to him:

You're not going to tell me that loving someone is wrong. That does not mean that heterosexuality is not very real. It does not mean that bisexuality is not very real. It does not mean that homosexuality is not very real. They are all very real. But what I'm saying is, I am a gay man. I am a gay man. I am a gay man. I don't know how many times I have to say that.

I don't believe that we were created to hate. I believe that we were created only to love. Love is the root of the happiest of times and of wars. Love, or lack of love -- but love is the root of everything.