MANSFIELD – On Jan. 13, 2015, Aaron and Austin Rhodes shook up the internet when they released a video on YouTube coming out to their father. Five years later, the twin brothers have used their platform to reach new levels of success and be firm advocates of the LGBTQ community.
No one ever said going viral didn’t come at a great personal cost, however.
After 27.4 million views on their video (and still growing), being interviewed by Ellen Degenrous and moving to Los Angeles to kickstart their careers as content creators and actors, Aaron Rhodes reflected on all of the opportunities he and his brother have been given while also acknowledging the toxicity it’s brought them as well.
“I always enjoy being an advocate for our community, but it was just really intense at first because everyone wanted to know my opinion, which sometimes I didn’t even have one,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes and his brother received an outpouring of love and support from many who were inspired by their video, which he said changed his life in mostly positive ways. On the other hand, they would also receive vicious attacks online telling them to kill themselves.
Receiving criticism from the LGBTQ community was also unexpected for them.
“They were making fun of Austin and I, trying to bring us down because we were just attractive, young, white teenagers and that’s why we were getting all of this attention,” Rhodes said.
Though they participated in rallies, movements and monumental moments such as the Supreme Court declaring gay marriage legal, the brothers would still receive some criticism.
“It just made me feel sad for our community because we’re supposed to be all lifting each other up, and for our own community to attack us a little bit definitely hurt us in some way, I think,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes recalled a stir of controversy surrounding them after they received a $10,000 check from Ellen after revealing that they moved to Los Angeles and were moving from couch to couch.
“There wasn’t much backstory to that on the show and a lot of people, I think, were also upset because they thought we were getting a reward for coming out when it’s a thing we all go through in our community,” Rhodes said. “We weren’t getting rewarded because we were gay, she was giving it to us because we needed the money and she showed compassion in that way.”
Deena Pfahler, mother of the Rhodes brothers, recalled reading all of the hateful comments her sons have received over the years. She eventually had to learn to stop looking.
“When you see those words that people feel free to just spew, it hurts to the core as a mom,” she said.
Pfahler, who did not originally take well to learning about her sons’ sexuality, eventually grew to accept them for who they were, leading her to create Love on a Mission in Mansfield which provides a safe place for LGBTQ youth in Central Ohio. She also helps parents who are going through the same experience she did with accepting her children.
“When you’ve been taught something your whole life, you just can’t undo it,” Pfahler said. “It’s a process, it was like a battle within my mind, so I just had to go on a journey on my own and seek out the truth, and what I found is the more I prayed for my kids to change, God was actually changing my heart and mind. And ultimately, that was the best thing that’s ever happened to myself and to my family.”
At only 19 years old and still coming to terms with his sexuality, Rhodes felt anxiety from the expectations placed on him, his privacy being taken away from him and thinking he was being judged by the LGBTQ community.
“I think a lot of times when people go viral or they get a lot of notoriety for something, it doesn’t always mean they’re an expert in that,” Rhodes said. “That’s what I always felt. People thought I was an expert in being gay; I was an expert in coming out. The only thing I was trying to do was share what that looks like a little better, then all of a sudden I was thrust into that.”
Today, Rhodes has taken a break from being a prominent figure in the public eye. He moved back to Ohio and lives in Columbus where he’s still making content for his YouTube channel and serves as a brand ambassador for ASOS.
“I’m getting my footing on my own as Aaron as opposed to the ‘Rhodes Bros,’ and I’m kind of easing myself back into it here and there, trying to see what my voice is going to be moving forward,” Rhodes said. “Obviously undertones of LGBT content, but I kind of want to showcase other talents, abilities and opinions that I have on things, as opposed to being gay.”
Meanwhile, his brother Austin lives in Nashville with his boyfriend and currently stars in a reality television show called “Very Cavallari,” on E!
As for their relationship with their father, they haven’t been closer, according to Rhodes.
“Even before then we were close, but I think that experience as a whole brought my whole family closer together and now it’s so easy. We all just talk like it’s normal. No one really hesitates… Austin’s boyfriend and mine have come to Christmas’s and even get them (his parents) gifts and it’s all very natural and normal and no one ever says anything, so it just feels good.”
