- In just one week, a video of twin brothers
coming out to their father has been viewed
over 14 million times.
Take a look.
- I mean, I don't really know how else to put it,
but, like, uh...
Um, I'm gay, and, um...
Austin is too,
and, uh...
We just wanted to, like, call and tell you.
[sniffling]
- You know? - Right.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. - Right.
- From Los Angeles, California,
please welcome Aaron and Austin Rhodes.
It's a very, very hard thing to do,
and I applaud you for having the courage to do it.
So your dad was the last one in your family
that you told, right?
both: Yeah.
- And why was it so hard to tell him?
- My parents got divorced when we were really young.
so we didn't really have that close relationship with our dad.
And obviously we were closer with our mom,
so coming out to her was easy.
- How old were you when you came out to her?
- It was after graduation, so 17.
- Yeah, we were 17.
- Did you rehearse how you were gonna do it?
Was it harder than you thought?
- Like, leading up to it,
we thought it was just gonna be so easy.
We were like, "All right."
Like, I have a really good relationship with my dad,
and I was like, "He's gonna take it so well."
But then, like, right when we called him,
when he initially-- when he answered, like,
was the scariest moment of my life,
'cause in my mind, I was like,
"This could potentially be the last time
"that we have a normal phone call like this
if he takes it bad,"
even though I thought he would take it so well.
But in that moment-- - You just never know.
So you decided to share it with people for what reason?
- I've see so many videos online of, like, people coming out,
and those have always inspired me.
That helped me come out personally.
- How old were you when you realized you were gay,
each of you?
- I never--I don't remember, like, a definitely moment.
I just remember, honestly,
just always kind of feeling that way,
and, like, when you're younger, I mean, I would, like,
try and, like, pretend like I wasn't
and, like, try and, like, go out with girls
and, like, whatever that was.
- And who told who first?
Who was the first person to tell the other?
- Austin. - He came to me first.
We went to, like, lunch at Panera Bread after work,
and he's like, "I have something to tell you,"
and we were, I think, 16 at the time.
And he just-- like, he said it to me.
He's like, "I'm gay," and I was like,
"Well, I'm the same way."
[laughter]
- So you just came out to each other.
[all talking at once]
- For sure. - All right.
We're gonna take a break, and then your dad is here.
I know this is overwhelming,
'cause it just happened last week,
and it was a lot to take it, for your sons to tell you that.
And I think that you're an amazing father,
because a lot of fathers--
- Thank you. Appreciate that.
- That sends a very powerful message to dads out there
who just want the best for their children.
They just want their sons to be happy
and feel proud of themselves.
- Right. - Right?
- Yes. - Yeah.
When they called you,
they kind of were waiting to say something,
so did you think something terrible?
Were they gonna-- did you say--
Or did you think they were gonna say that?
- No, in the call,
I-I knew they were crying,
and I knew there-- something was wrong.
As a father, you just deal--
You know, "What's wrong?"
I could hear it come from them, their voices,
and when they told me,
I just felt as though...
[sighs]
The only thing that came through me
is, "I love you both.
"I love you both unconditionally.
"You're my children, I can't undo being your father,
and I don't want to be-- for no reason."
- That is the right thing to say, is I love you both.
And even if you don't fully understand it right now--
and I'm sure you don't--
there are ways to understand it, and time will help with that.
But has it changed your relationship?
Are you closer now? - Oh, yeah.
I really feel like now that we--
there's a weight off both our sides
I think that-- now that we--
I feel we can talk about anything
and come to me with anything in their lives.
I was very proud of my boys.
- Well, I think--yeah.
I think whenever someone's hiding something,
whatever it is,
they're not gonna give you their full selves.
They're not gonna show you who they are,
and you're not gonna get to know who your sons are,
and they probably were keeping themselves at a distance.
So the fact that--
I'm sure you're gonna have a close relationship.
But I can't tell you how amazing it is for you to--
even though you-- I'm sure you don't
completely understand it--
for you to just love them and accept them.
That's all they want, is for you to love them
and accept them.
- I'm very proud of them.
- All right, so you two are--
Where are you living now? In Los Angeles, right?
- Yeah.
- And you probably need some help,
because you don't have a place to live yet
and stuff like that,
so our friends at Shutterfly want to help you out.
And we're gonna give you a check for $10,000 to help you.
[cheers and applause]