Joel Kim Booster Reveals How He Met His Boyfriend, Talks Introducing Him to His Conservative Mom
Joel Kim Booster is opening up about his relationship with boyfriend John-Michael Sudsina.
The 36-year-old Loot actor chatted with Jesse Tyler Ferguson on the latest episode of his Dinner’s On Me podcast.
Joel talked about growing up in a conservative Christian household in the Midwest, reconnecting with his mom after his father’s passing, and falling in love for the first time after meeting his boyfriend at “Gay Disneyland.”
Head inside to find out what he had to share…
Here’s what he shared:
On the culture shock he experienced when he began going to public school after being homeschooled: “I had friends at church, you know, but meeting all different kinds of people and having really my only frame of reference for how to conduct yourself from TV and media. I remember being shocked, really, when I found out that people would talk about each other behind their backs, like, friends would do that. And in small ways that now I recognize are healthy and normal. ‘Oh my god, Emily’s late again, Emily’s always so late.’ And then Emily shows up and I go, ‘Emily, did you know everyone says that you’re late all the time?’ I’m not really getting that.”
On meeting his boyfriend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: “Yeah, yeah. Gay Disneyland. It was the first big party weekend and we met out through mutual friends on the first night and I took him home and we watched the sunrise together on the beach and talked after we hooked up. And then the next day it was like, I saw him again and we both had very much the vibe of like, ‘We know how these weekends work. You don’t have to continue to talk to me. You can find your next conquest. I’m not going to glom onto you. You’re not going to glom onto me.’ And he was very, again, like, you know, ‘This is not going to be a relationship.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine.’ Meanwhile, I’m talking about him on every podcast that I go on.”
On bringing his boyfriend home for Christmas: “I called my mom, and I was sort of like, ‘Let’s talk about this. Like, what would you do if I brought a guy home?’ And she, I think because of my dad passing was sort of like, you know, ‘We’re not on the same page on that part of your life, but if you brought home someone that you loved, who loved you back, I would love them as much as I love Dan,’ who’s my sister’s husband. And that was like a huge moment for me. And I brought him home the following Christmas and I never conceptualized…there was not a moment in my entire childhood, teenagehood, twenties, ever, that I conceptualized what it would be like to bring a guy home.”
On possibly getting married and how he doesn’t know if his mom would attend the wedding: “She was great, and she loves him, and she asks about him all the time. And I think, you know, as I have sort of brought up the subject of marrying him, that is when things get a little dicey. She changes the subject a little bit. I think she loves him and loves that I’m happy and I think like the Republican conservative in her is like, maybe that’s a step too far. It’s like, I don’t know if she would be at our wedding or not. And again, I don’t need her to and it doesn’t hurt me.”
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!