Earvin "EJ" Johnson III (born June 4, 1992) is an American TV personality and

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

Early life

Earvin Johnson III was born on June 4, 1992, in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

, to Earvin "Magic" Johnson 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 university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, studying hospitality with a focus on event planning and design. Johnson is gay and announced it to his family at the age of 17 and announced publicly in 2013 after a report by

TMZ ''TMZ'' is an American entertainment-focused tabloid news organization owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested ...

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

Career

Johnson joined the cast of the '' E!'' reality television series '' Rich Kids of Beverly Hills'' 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'', 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 seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...

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 f ...

''. 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''. 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 reality in its unmediated form. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, it is an "impossible" category because of its inconceivability and opposition to expression. In depth psychology The Real is the ...

''. In an

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

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 Phil LaMarr is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV'', where he stayed for five seasons. His voice acting roles in animated series include the Sam B of ' ...

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 shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

, he thought about transitioning, but decided against it. Johnson is close friends with a group that includes Ezra J. William, Andrew Warren, and Tiffany Trump. The group has been nicknamed the " Rich Kids of Instagram" by the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' and the "Snap Pack" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

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

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, EJ 1992 births 21st-century American LGBTQ people African-American LGBTQ people African-American television personalities American gay entertainers American male bloggers American bloggers American socialites Entertainers from Beverly Hills, California Fashion influencers LGBTQ bloggers LGBTQ people from California Living people Magic Johnson Male-to-female cross-dressers Mass media people from Beverly Hills, California New York University alumni Participants in American reality television series Television personalities from California