Is Manny MUA's Snapchat Original Series 'Coming Out' Scripted? (EXCLUSIVE)

Published Aug. 20 2021, 11:30 a.m. ET Coming out to your family can be a scary experience, depending on your upbringing. Even though gay marriage has been legalized in the U.S. since 2015, many young LGBTQ people find themselves in difficult situations, where they're uncertain how their coming out will be received by their main

Manny MUA Talks Guiding 6 Teens Through Their Coming-Out Journey in New Snap Original (EXCLUSIVE)

By

Published Aug. 20 2021, 11:30 a.m. ET

Coming out to your family can be a scary experience, depending on your upbringing. Even though gay marriage has been legalized in the U.S. since 2015, many young LGBTQ people find themselves in difficult situations, where they're uncertain how their coming out will be received by their main support system.

The new Snap Original series Coming Out follows six young adults as they come out to their families — and who better to guide them than the longtime LGBTQ icon Manny MUA?

Manny shared his coming-out story in 2016 for the community of beauty lovers he'd built, talking about how he navigated it with his Mormon family.

"I'm luckily now so secure in who I am as a person and who I am as a queer person," Manny exclusively told Distractify, noting his experience wasn't the easiest. "I do think I have such a nice broad experience when it comes to my coming-out journey, and I think that that really helps when it comes to talking to different kids and family members because mine wasn't super easy."

Source: Snap Inc.

The inaugural six-episode season has already started premiering on Snapchat, and Manny took the time to chat with Distractify about the series, its authenticity, and other questions viewers might have.

Is 'Coming Out' scripted? Manny talks about the show's authenticity and says the families had no idea.

Since coming out is such a private and personal experience for each individual, sharing the experience on a public platform can raise questions about its authenticity. But Manny reassured us that the family's reactions are completely real — sharing the good and the bad.

"They're all 1,000 percent authentic," the beauty expert explained. "Everyone that was on the show, all the family was told that they were part of some type of family documentary."

Source: BuzzFeed/Shannon Soule

The founder and CEO of Lunar Beauty told us that the production team wanted to give the participants the opportunity to come out in the best way they saw fit.

"If they want to come out in a big f--king rainbow, guns blazing, then let them do that. If they want to come out in secret, like more of a behind-the-scenes situation, let them do that too," he said.

But ultimately, sharing these experiences is about making the process seem less daunting to those unsure how to go about it.

"I think it's really good to show, like, really positive coming-out experiences because then it's like not as scary, it's not as bad," he stated.

Every episode includes a swipe-up link to the Trevor Project.

Since the production team genuinely didn't know how these guests' coming-out experiences would go, Manny revealed that they offered many avenues to support them — and any viewers who were looking for advice on their own coming-out experiences.

"For every person that was actually on the show, we are offering counseling after the show," Manny told Distractify, noting they don't have to take it if they don't want it, but it was available for everyone featured.

Even with a camera crew there, Manny says that some experiences were more difficult than others, which is what made offering the counseling so important.

"There were, of course, like one or two that were a little bit more difficult than others," the content creator said. "A little bit more confusing, little more explanation needed. But at the end of the day as long as there's love that's there between the family members, it'll always be okay."

You can watch Coming Out on Snap Originals weekly through Aug. 29.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfnsBuucCnpbJlnaqubr%2FNmqecoJGpeqS7zKKloGWfqsFuv8SroJ6rXaiws7XPrZyd

 Share!