Earvin Johnson III (born June 4, 1992) is an American television personality and socialite.

Early life

Earvin Johnson III was born on June 4, 1992 in Beverly Hills, California, to

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

and Earlitha "Cookie" Johnson (''née'' Kelly). He has an older brother, Andre, and a younger sister, Elisa. He was raised in the Pentecostal Christian faith. Johnson attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, studying hospitality with a focus on event planning and design. Johnson

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

to his family at the age of 17 and came out publicly in 2013 after a report by

TMZ TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...

published pictures of him holding hands with a male friend. He was supported by his family in his decision to come out publicly. After coming out, Johnson left the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, the church in which he grew up, due to their views on homosexuality.

Career

Johnson joined the cast of the '' E!'' reality television series ''

Rich Kids of Beverly Hills ''Rich Kids of Beverly Hills'' (stylized as ''#RichKids of Beverly Hills'') is an American reality television series that premiered on E!, on January 19, 2014. The series focuses on the lives of a group of twenty-something millionaires and billi ...

'' in 2014 as a recurring cast member on the first season. He became a main cast member for the next three seasons. The show was canceled after four seasons. Johnson then starred in his own spin-off reality series ''

EJNYC ''EJNYC'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the E! cable network, on June 19, 2016. The reality show follows the life of EJ Johnson who moves back to New York City. The show is a spin-off of ''Rich Kids of Beverly Hills' ...

'', one of the first reality series to profile a young LGBTQ person of color. In 2014, Johnson joined ''

E! News ''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the infotainment, entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and prima ...

'' as a news personality and commentator, covering shows for

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

as well as having a recurring commentary role on ''

Fashion Police ''Fashion Police'' is an American television series that premiered on September 10, 2010, on E!. It was originally hosted by Joan Rivers and featured panelists George Kotsiopoulos, Giuliana Rancic, and Kelly Osbourne commenting on celebrity fas ...

''. He also appeared as a guest commentator on '' Hello Ross'' in 2014. He was a guest star during season 4 of ''

Real Husbands of Hollywood ''Real Husbands of Hollywood'' (abbreviated ''RHOH'') is an American reality television parody that originally aired on Black Entertainment Television, BET from January 15, 2013 to December 13, 2016. A Revival (television), revival series produce ...

''. In 2016 Johnson was featured in an ''It Got Better'' short documentary produced by L/Studio. In 2017, Johnson moderated a panel at BeautyCon called ''The Gender Revolution''. In 2017 Johnson was a guest host on ''

The Real In continental philosophy, the Real refers to the remainder of reality that cannot be expressed, and which surpasses reasoning. In Lacanianism, it is an "impossible" category because of its opposition to expression and inconceivability. I ...

''. In an

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

interview with Kelley L. Carter, Johnson discussed his television experiences and plans to pursue a career in fashion. On May 12, 2021, it was announced that Johnson would voice the character of Michael Collins in the reboot of '' The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder'', a role played in the original series by

Phil LaMarr Phillip LaMarr (born January 24, 1967) is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. LaMarr was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV''. His voice acting roles in animated series include J ...

Personal life

In 2015, Johnson underwent gastric sleeve surgery. Johnson has been noted for his feminine and androgynous fashion style. He revealed that after Caitlyn Jenner's coming out as

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

, he thought about transitioning, but decided against it. Johnson is close friends with Gaïa Jacquet-Matisse, Kyra Kennedy, Reya Benitez, Ezra J. William, Andrew Warren, and

Tiffany Trump Tiffany Ariana Trump (born October 13, 1993) is the fourth child of former U.S. President Donald Trump and his only child with his second wife, Marla Maples. She is a legal research assistant at Georgetown University Law Center. Early life an ...

. The group has been nicknamed the "Rich Kids of Instagram" by the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' and the "Snap Pack" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, EJ Living people 1992 births American socialites African-American television personalities Gay entertainers LGBT African Americans American LGBT entertainers LGBT people from California Magic Johnson Fashion influencers Male-to-female cross-dressers New York University alumni Participants in American reality television series People from Beverly Hills, California Television personalities from California Male bloggers