David Archuleta, who skyrocketed to fame on “American Idol” in 2008, spent decades grappling with his sexuality as a devout member of the Morman church. Before coming out as queer in 2021, he tried for years to convince himself he was straight because same-sex relationships were forbidden in the church. Achuleta, now 34, even got engaged to three different young women.
Archuleta revealed that headline-making tidbit during an appearance on “The Zach Sang Show” on September 19, 2025. The singer said that before leaving the Mormon church in 2022, his multiple engagements didn’t seem strange to him, but now realizes they may seem “weird from an outside perspective.”
David Archuleta Says He Thought Marrying a Woman Would Keep Him From Experiencing ‘Samesex Attraction’
Archuleta, who just released his first album in five years — “Earthly Delights” — told Sang that when he released his 2020 album “Therapy Sessions,” he was still “very religious” but closeted.
“I was going through literal therapy at the time and I thought, ‘Oh, there’s something clearly wrong with me that I just need to fix,'” Archuleta recalled. “I just kind of thought anything that’s wrong with you is fixable. And I just thought, you know, God has a solution to all things.”
Getting engaged three times was part of Archuleta’s attempts to live a straight life, he explained to Sang, noting, “Mormons get engaged really fast because you’re supposed to get married and you’re not supposed to do anything (sexually) before marriage. So, naturally, like those impulses and those urges lead to ‘Let’s get married fast because we’re feeling a lot um of urges, you know, and just wanting to be intimate with each other.”
Archuleta said he shares details about his engagements in his forthcoming book, “Devout,” to be released in February 2026 with a forward by Paula Abdul. But he did tell Sang that the reason he kept proposing was because when he shared with elders in the church that he was “struggling with samesex attraction,” he was told he wasn’t gay and could still marry a woman.
“Because it’s like, ‘Well, you’re not gay. You just struggle with samesex attraction. There’s a difference because gay people live out their life, which they shouldn’t, but people who struggle with samesex attraction acknowledge that they have the urges, but they don’t act on them, and that’s okay with God.’ So, I was like, ‘Oh, okay.'”
Archuleta continued, “And they’re like, ‘Well, if you get married, God will bless you.’ So I thought by doing that, like, ‘Okay I will naturally fall more and more in love with my girlfriend and … I’ll have enough faith where this won’t be an issue. And I just realized, you know, I feel like these girls deserve better than this. Like someone who’s unsure of themselves, who hasn’t fully come to be honest with himself. Trying to convince someone that, like, you’re the person for them for the rest of their life. I’m really grateful that I didn’t see (it) through with (them).”
David Archuleta Says He Became ‘Obsessed’ With His Religion as He Tried to Deny His Sexual Identity
When Archuleta decided to leave the Mormon church in 2022, he worried about his mom’s reaction, telling NBC, he expected her to be mad “for offending her religion by leaving it.” But instead, she decided to follow him.
“She said, ‘If you’re going to hell, then we’re all going to hell with you,'” Archuleta told the outlet. That act of love from her inspired him to write and record his single “Hell Together.”
Archuleta told Sang that before fulling embracing and becoming part of the LGBTQ+ community, he’d grown “obsessed” with his religion, attending three to five times a week as he tried to reconcile his indoctrined beliefs and his sexual identity.
“I think it’s a little confusing because you’re taught like God is an all-loving and all-knowing, like never ceasing love and mercy that God shows to you,” he explained. “But at the same time, if you mess up and if you don’t meet the quota, you will be cut out from his presence.”
“He’ll still, like, give you something decent,” Archuleta said he was taught, “but like, you won’t have the cream on top like experience of getting to be in his presence and shine in his love and glory the way other more behaved followers will get. So you’re just like, ‘Am I am I doing enough yet? Am I doing enough yet?’ And it gets to the point where you’re doing more than everyone else.”
