David Archuleta’s Mom Lupe left the LDS Church. She shares why. Plus, David’s mini ‘American Idol reunion’ on the Project Angel Food red carpet.
David Archuleta attended the 2023 Project Angel Food Lead with Love 4fundraising event on Saturday (June 24). On the red carpet he shared with People magazine about how his mother, Lupe Bartholomew came to accept him coming out as queer.
“My mom had a hard time accepting my journey,” David told People. “At first, she said, ‘DA, I love you, but I love God more. And marriage is between a man and a woman.’ And I’m like, ‘Mom, I understand.’ Because that’s what I believed up until a month before coming out. And I said, ‘Mom, I don’t need you to accept everything about my journey immediately. I just want you to be willing to walk along with me in this journey to learn alongside me’ and she said, ‘OK, I can do that.’ “
“So it was really sweet to see her now at the point where she said, ‘I don’t want to leave my family just to follow God.’ She’s like, ‘I can follow God and accept my son.’ ” he told People.
“If you’re going to hell we’re all going to hell together”
Not only did David’s mother come to accept David as a member of the LGBTQ, she has since left the Mormon church. David himself has stepped away from the religion that guided him his entire life over disagreements about his coming out.
“My mom said, ‘I’m going to step away from the church.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And she just said, ‘If you’re going to hell, we’re all going to hell together,’ ” he said. “… She just kind of said it in a funny way.”
“It was sweet that she said, ‘I’m with you wherever you go,’ ” David added. “That was really sweet.”
However, while David has shared that he’s “stepping away” from the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, his mom, in a editorial for QSaltLake has OFFICIALLY quit the church.
David’s mother left LDS after she decided “God is not here”
“I invited David to come to sacrament meeting with me, and he came a few times, but then he stopped because he said, ‘It hurts too much to be there, Mom.'” She continued, “For some reason, I couldn’t understand why he was saying that, but then it hit me how the LGBTQ has been really not welcome in this church, ‘We love you, but you’re not welcome to participate in all the blessings because of who you are.’ Some talks have been really hurtful towards them, and I didn’t get it then because I was so committed to stay and obey.”
It wasn’t an easy decision to leave. “I cried many nights at bedtime, and my husband is a witness to this because I was feeling so much pain to see my child suffer so much.” She continued, “I sat in church in sacrament meeting one day and looked around and then said to myself, ‘God is not here.'”
Lupe has questions, “How can a loving God be so exclusive? I did not teach my children their whole lives to serve and love a God who is not accepting of them. God is love. By November, I wrote a letter to my bishop and told him I was stepping away from the church.”
David’s mother gave up her LDS membership, a step her son may not have taken yet
And after researching the history of LDS, she decided to disenroll from the church completely. It’s not clear if David’s disentanglement from LDS has gone that far. And by March, I decided to give up my membership completely after finding out the true story of Joseph Smith and many other things I won’t go into detail.
She concludes her essay: “…I’m on a new journey now. I feel it has been an awakening in my life, and I’m finally ready to move on.”
American Idol mini reunion: David reunited with Paula Abdul on the red carpet and duetted with Grace Kinstler
On the red carpet, the American Idol season 7 runner-up reunited with former judge Paula Abdul. Additionally, he and 2022 alum Grace Kinstler performed “The Prayer.” David told People, “It’s fun to sing with another former Idol contestant.” describing the event as “little Idol reunion.”
On Friday (June 30) David will release a new song, “I’m Yours.” The song “makes people dance,” David told People. “It’s just about saying, ‘I’m happy where I am and this is going to feel good.’ …So that’ll be fun to just show a fun, happy, dancey side. I don’t think I’ve shown that in a long time, if ever.”
