JoJo Siwa Explains Why She Went Public with Girlfriend Dakayla Wilson After Wanting to Keep Things Private (Exclusive)

Siwa and Wilson stepped out together at premiere for Hulu's 'Child Star' on Thursday, Sept. 14

A change of heart — and an intrigued dance class — led to JoJo Siwa and Dakayla Wilson changing their stance on keeping their relationship private.

At the premiere of Hulu's new documentary series Child Star, which marks Demi Lovato's directorial debut, Siwa, 21, and Wilson opened up to PEOPLE about their decision to go public with their romance.

"Honestly I've been very open about not wanting to be public," Siwa says. "And so when we kind of got together, it was just — it was literally one day where she was teaching a dance class and the girls in the class and the boys in the class were like, kind of looking at us. Then one was like, 'Why are you here, JoJo?' And finally I just came up to her and I was like, 'Yeah, why am I here?' "

Siwa continues, "And I gave her [Wilson] the look like, 'It's okay, you can say,' and then they were videoing that, and so we were like, 'You know what? It's public.' "

"Things change," Wilson adds.

Related: JoJo Siwa Opens Up About Her Love Life: 'I Got a Word for It — Messy' (Exclusive)

Siwa and the So You Think You Can Dance alum went public with their relationship in an Aug. 14 video on Siwa's Instagram Stories. In the video, Wilson was dancing in front of a mirror at a dance class, when she said, "So I have a girlfriend."

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The former Dance Moms star then gave her girlfriend a bug hug as the class cheered. "Cats outta the bag ??," Siwa captioned the post. Wilson later reposted the video, writing, "surprise shawtyyyyy ??."

The couple haven't shared how long they've been dating, but after confirming their relationship, the "Karma" singer shared a TikTok video of herself dancing. "Girlfriend taught a dance class so i took a weekend off of being JoJo Siwa and became her All Star Assistant," she captioned the video. "????? @DAKAYLA WILSON broke my body in half for this but WORTH IT."

Wilson tells PEOPLE that dancing is one of the couple's favorite activities. "We like to dance a lot together," she says. She also revealed that they love a good game night, while Siwa adds that they like watching movies and TV shows together, as well as ordering in. "We don't cook for nothing," Siwa says.

Related: JoJo Siwa Reveals New Details About Surrogacy Plans: 'Like Triplets, But Like, Not'

In November 2023, Siwa told PEOPLE that dating with her busy schedule has been tricky in the past. She also revealed that she struggled with balancing romantic relationships with other aspects of her life.

"I'm a lover. I crave that. But it’s good, because I know when I’m in a relationship, I prioritize it, and sometimes a little too much and I cut out friends, cut out family, cut out career, and I only focus on relationships," she said at the time.

In the same interview, Siwa also said that she had taken a year off from dating to focus on herself, but noted that she was looking forward to finding "someone to come home to at night, and cuddle and have a peanut butter and jelly with.”

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Child Star premieres Sept. 17 on Hulu.

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