Magic Johnson shares special message on son's birthday: 'Keep living your truth'

Magic Johnson has a special message for his son, Earvin “EJ” Johnson III, on his 31st birthday.

"Happy Birthday to my son, EJ!! I love your pure heart and creativity!" the five-time NBA champ tweeted. "Keep living your truth, it’s what I love about you most! Have a great day!"

Johnson's son came out as gay to his parents in 2010 — a revelation that the NBA legend later admitted was difficult for him to accept.

“When you grow up in team sports, you’re thinking, ‘Is he gonna play sports?’” Johnson told Variety in a 2022 interview ahead of the release of "They Call Me Magic," an Apple TV+ docuseries covering Johnson's life. “And then when I saw that he liked dolls and to play dress-up … ‘What are you doing?’”

In the same interview, EJ said at the time he was "out to all my friends" and that his parents "were the last people that I really had to talk to about it."

"It wasn’t new for me, but they had to really take that in and digest it. Especially my dad, because he was really the last person to talk to," EJ said at the time. "I think it was just a lot for him to swallow in that conversation. A lot of just going back and forth. And he just was rattling off about things that weren’t particularly nice. But he’s not somebody who works great being cornered or surprised."

Months later, EJ said the two repaired their relationship when his father "picked me up at my dorm."

"I was like, ‘Oh, whatever, hey.’ And he hugged me so hard," EJ said, who was 17 when he came out to his parents. "He was, like, squeezing all the air out of me. That’s when I knew, there’s nothing but love here.”

Three years later, at the age of 20, EJ Johnson came out publicly.

Johnson shares his son EJ — along with his daughter, Elisa — with his wife of more than 30 years, Cookie Johnson. He shares son Andre with ex-girlfriend Melissa Mitchell.

Cookie Johnson also had a loving message for her son on his birthday, sharing a carousel of photos on Instagram and writing: "Happy birthday, my @ejjohnson_! You are my great love! I pray that the Lord will have favor on you and bless you abundantly in your 31st year."

Since coming out, EJ Johnson has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ youth and breaking rigid gender binaries in the fashion industry.

“I can be [masculine], I can be [feminine]. I can do whatever I want with it and work with it,” he told E! News' "Just the Skip" series in 2019. “If I want to [dress in drag], then I’ll do that. But I don’t want to do that all the time.”

The now 31-year-old has also been vocal about his own gender identity.

“I always say that if you feel like you’re not in the right body, then by all means get to where you want to be I don’t feel that I’m in the wrong body,” he said in the same E! News interview. “I feel like this is the body I’m supposed to be in. … I don’t feel the need to transition. I’m almost 100% positive I won’t. I’m just very comfortable in my own skin. I like my body.”

Magic Johnson has publicly praised his son for being his authentic self and the work he is doing within the LGBTQ+ community.

“I’m really proud of him because he’s getting so involved and letting his voice help other people too,” Magic told People in March 2023. "He’s saving a lot of people’s lives and people don’t even know, and I’m so proud of him."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com