David Archuleta teases memoir, shares with Filipinos his coming out story

MANILA, Philippines — Singer David Archuleta's upcoming memoir will include how he came around to coming out as queer, portions of which he shared with Filipino fans during a concert at the New Frontier Theater.

The concert last September 14 was part of the "American Idol" alumnus' eighth time in the Philippines but his first visit in six years.

Despite how long it's been and how many time he's visited, David still showed how much of an entertainer he was by performing hits like "Crush," "Touch My Hand" and "A Little Too Not Over You."

After performing the latter early in the night, David admitted being astounded by the number of people present and shared how he's already had halo-halo, mangoes, sinigang and pancit since coming back.

"So much has happened since [I was last here] like the pandemic and coming out, I didn't know what people were gonna think of me," David said.

The singer confessed initially thought being queer and coming out "was the worst thing I could do and anything can be better than that.

The first person David told when he came out in 2021 was his mother Lupe who at the time was an active member of the Mormon Church and told him then she couldn't accept what her son had said.

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"People deserve to be wanted and desired, and maybe I can find someone like that," David said as he teased he was writing a book on such topics.

Earlier this year, David signed a book deal with HarperCollins imprint Dey Street Books for a memoir about life growing up as a Mormon, his "American Idol" stint and the music career that followed, becoming a missionary in Chile, and coming out as queer during the pandemic.

David also shared with the Filipino crowd he tried getting married to women several times but they never fell through as it felt unfair to the other person, and eventually wasn't accepted by people within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Tugging at the heart of the audience, David said his mother offered to leave the church as well, quoting her "I don't want to go to a place where my children aren't wanted... I'll go to hell with you."

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