YOU might not have heard of JoJo Siwa until she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house earlier this week.
The 21-year-old is an American dancer, singer and , famed for her energetic demeanour, quirky outfits and larger-than-life personality.
She shot to fame on reality television show in 2015, which followed the lives of child dancers and their competitive troops, led by the tough and often controversial dance coach Abby Lee Miller.
The show gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of competitive dance, with youngsters like JoJo to compete week after week.
Her mum, Jessalynn Siwa, now 50, also featured on the show, after the Siwa family moved from to bustling California to pursue .
On Dance Moms, Jessalyn leaned into the pushy mum trope. She bleached JoJo’s hair, confronted dance instructor Abby and established the pre-teens trademark look of wearing a bow in her hair.
But like many child stars, JoJo quickly found herself at the center of controversies.
She was during her teens, as well as slammed for ‘faking’ a pregnancy and flogging make-up with asbestos in it.
In May 2016, JoJo released her song Boomerang to .
The lyrics go: “Stuck to the phone like they're all alone/ Hide behind the screen 'cause they're just so mean/ But we don't play it like that, we don't even fight back.”;
Fast forward nine years, and it's likely the lyrics still ring true for the performing triple threat, whose stardom shows no signs of slowing down.
delves into the storms JoJo has weathered, as well as the adversity she has overcome...
Turning class into chaos
Despite living across the pond, JoJo when she was just 13-years-old.
The dancer launched a line of hair bows in a collaboration with fashion accessory brand Claire's in 2016.
The look was a Siwa signature during her Dance Moms and Nickelodeon career, so she released designs under the name .
The oversized accessories were surprisingly a roaring success among British primary school pupils.
JoJo Bows were priced around £12 each, with Claire’s stores up and down the country selling out within days of launching.
However, British mums were left fuming after splashing out on the clips, only for them to be banned in schools shortly afterwards.
Some institutes deemed that the bows didn’t comply with uniform policies and were “distracting”; for students, with some parents even claiming the accessories had fueled playground bullying.
According to Department of Education guidelines, schools were within their rights to ban the bows. Far away in her dreamland of California, JoJo never commented on the scandal.
Asbestos in JoJo make-up kits
Despite public outcry over her controversial bows, JoJo went on to have a lucrative brand deal with Claire's – and even started selling in the store when she was aged 16.
The sets contained eyeshadow, two lip glosses and nail polish, and were marketed towards young girls and teens.
Around that time, JoJo had become a YouTube breakout star with over 12 million subscribers, snapping up brand deals and sponsorships at every corner.
Unfortunately, her venture into the beauty industry turned sour.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested the for asbestos – and the results came back as positive.
The store was forced to recall the product after the FDA issued a warning and urged buyers to stop using it immediately.
JoJo addressed the controversy in a , saying: “This product is something that, with a lot of things, that I put my trust into other people’s hands, [and] we are working really, really hard to make sure that this product is recalled and off all shelves.
“And also that anyone who has this product, you can get a refund... If it’s used or it’s unused, you can get a full refund.”;
Seriously ‘gross’ board game
In January 2021, the star's board game JoJo’s Juice was released to be played for children as young as six.
But the project soon began raising eyebrows due to “inappropriate” content on the cards.
JoJo found herself embroiled in controversy over the kid's game containing questions about nudity and being arrested.
The Nickelodeon-branded product contained “Truth or Dare”; playing cards with questions such as, “Have you ever gone outside without underwear? (A bathing suit doesn’t count)”; and “Have you ever been arrested?”;.
After parents began voicing their concerns on social media, the then-17-year-old posted a video saying she had “no idea”; what types of questions were included on the playing cards.
JoJo said: “Over the weekend, it has been brought to my attention by my fans and that my name and my image have been used to promote this board game that has some really inappropriate content.
“When I first saw this, I was really, really, really upset at how gross these questions were.
“I brought it to Nickelodeon’s attention immediately and since then they have been working to get this game stopped being made and also pulled from all shelves wherever it's being sold.”;
‘Tone deaf’ pregnancy prank
In March 2023, JoJo was slammed after she appeared to trick her fans into thinking she was pregnant.
The then-19-year-old took to and shared some photos of herself posing with baby clothes and nappies, while cradling her stomach.
In another photo, she appeared to be standing in a supermarket as she lifted her hoodie using her chin and stroked her bare tummy while holding a box of Pampers.
But it turns out the Dance Moms star was buying baby clothes to donate to mothers in need, and wasn’t pregnant herself.
JoJo still received a lot of backlash for joking about being pregnant, with fans branding her as “tone deaf”;.
One wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Why is JoJo Siwa romanticising pregnancy when she’s not pregnant?”;
Another chimed in: “JoJo Siwa is a weirdo for pretending to be pregnant on Snapchat.”;
Allegations of intense schedules and bullying
In 2022, JoJo and her mum Jessalyn formed the girl group XOMG Pop! with pre-teens they’d scouted on JoJo’s reality show, Siwa's Dance Pop Revolution.
The featured eight girls in colourful, glittery outfits, with wild hair accessories and OTT make-up. However, when four members mysteriously left in late 2023, people started asking questions.
Then, former members of the group and multiple sources close to the production accused the Siwas of subjecting the children to grueling rehearsal schedules.
JoJo came under fire for being “domineering”, making the young girls rehearse even when they were unwell and encouraging them to cry in public to drum up sympathy.
Rolling Stone spoke to multiple sources in February 2024 close to XOMPG Pop. They claimed that JoJo “dangled the carrot of stardom” in front of the young girls, but didn't deliver.
The Siwas vehemently denied any such claims, with entertainment lawyer Bryan Freedman representing them, saying in a statement: “These allegations are 100% provably false and this story was created to generate clicks at the expense of the truth.
“Had actual investigative reporting been done, the voluminous and irrefutable evidence would tell you all you need to know – that a disgruntled momager’s own abusive behavior caused her daughter to be asked not to return to the group.”;
Entering her wild ‘adult era’
In April 2024, JoJo marked the start of her ‘adult era' with her pop tune, Karma.
The song went viral thanks to its catchy hook and outlandish music video, which featured an awful lot of humping.
In the months that followed, JoJo continued seeking out shock value with her on-stage antics.
She performed for fans through June at a series of high-energy Pride gigs in Los Angeles and Chicago, prancing around in revealing outfits and swigging vodka straight from the bottle.
Even more shocking was an NSFW dance move in which the star put her hand down the bottom of her costume.
Psychotherapist Dr. Marni Feuerman confirmed JoJo was “showing up differently” for her fanbase, telling Flying Eze: “The drinking on the stage and all the other bits and pieces was too much.
“This was about shock value and dramatics, but many celebrities have shocked like this. This was not new.
“The shock here came from seeing this abrupt transformation. The dramatic shift so publicly and quickly feels more shocking.”;
Trolled for her sexuality
In 2021, JoJo came out as queer and has since become a prominent gay rights activist and social media influencer, with more than 45.5 million followers on TikTok.
The singer, dancer and actress made a lengthy video on her Instagram page where she opened up for the first time about her sexual orientation.
Over the last four years, she has been candid about the trolling she has faced for her sexuality – and this something which has played out .
Boxer Mickey Rourke was given a strict warning by producers after a ‘homophobic slur' left JoJo in floods of tears.
During the same chat, he also insinuated that he will be able to change the gay singer's sexuality during their stint in the house.
She is currently in a relationship with Australian influencer, Kath Ebbs.
The pair went official in January 2025 when they shared a selection of PDA-packed photos.
