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10 April 2025

CBB’s Chesney Hawkes speaks warmly of LGBTQ+ daughter as he defends Jojo Siwa

Hawkes told Big Brother that Siwa reminded him of his daughter, who is the same age and "also part of the LGBTQ community"

By Gary Grimes

Chesney Hawkes and Jojo Siwa
Chesney Hawkes and Jojo Siwa (Images: ITV)

Nineties pop star Chesney Hawkes has revealed that his daughter is a member of the LGBTQ+ community as he spoke in defence of Jojo Siwa following recent events in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

In last night’s episode, viewers saw Siwa on the receiving end of homophobic and sexually aggressive remarks by Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke. The incident moved the former child star to tears, causing her to be comforted by her other housemates whilst Rourke was reprimanded for his language by show producers.

Following the incident, Hawkes spoke to Big Brother in the Diary Room about the day’s events.

“This incident with Mickey and JoJo kind of knocked me a little bit,” admitted ‘The One And Only’ singer, who has previously appeared on Celebrity Big Brother for a task in 2009.

“‘It’s funny because JoJo is the same age as my daughter,” Hawkes said of the 21 year old TV personality. “My daughter is also part of the LGBTQ community so it just reminded me of her and I think she really handled it well.”

“So I was just sort of proud of her in a fatherly way,” the singer concluded, before noting that he is not wholly against Rourke in spite of his comments.

“I quite like Mickey and I like spending time with him and obviously he is a legend and his stories are amazing but he is in this mode in life where he doesn’t give a monkeys about what anyone thinks, you can see that,” Hawkes continued. “He lives his life in that way.”

“But I can see there is a slight innocence to him. You sort of want to get in there and see if there is more to the tough exterior that you see. He is an interesting character that’s for sure.”

Drag Race star Danny Beard was also seen speaking to Rourke with compassion following his disagreement with the former Nickelodeon star. “I disagree with how it panned out from how you handled it but that also doesn’t mean I’m going to dig my feet in and ostracise you in the group,” Beard told him.

“I’d love you to see it from another point of view, I’d love you to be part of the group and I don’t want you to feel like you’re not.”  

Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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