(Photo Credit: Chelsea Guglielmino\/Getty Images for Lambda Legal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEven now, he and his father don\u2019t agree on how things were years ago<\/h2>\n
According to Archuleta, his father \u2014 a former musician himself \u2014 wanted to have a career vicariously through him as a \u201cpuppet.\u201d This is not uncommon among people who become famous as children.<\/p>\n
By 20, he walked away from music to double down upon his religious practice as a Mormon. He even went on a missionary trip to Chile, where an Elder in his church helped him to identify his father\u2019s behavior as abusive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to learn that just because you love someone doesn\u2019t mean you let them treat you in a hurtful way and in a way that belittles you and makes you feel like you\u2019re little or nothing,\u201d Archuleta shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it took someone else telling me that,\u201d he acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Archuleta recalled: \u201cMy mission leader was like, \u2018He may be your dad, but he\u2019s not treating you like a son.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nEven after setting boundaries with his father, which included years spent apart, Archuleta attempted to live a life as a straight man.<\/p>\n
This included three engagements to three different women over the years. It also included praying that he would change and simply wake up heterosexual.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was almost willing to give my life up because I was so devoted to what I believed,\u201d Archuleta shared of having made plans to die by suicide.<\/p>\n
Instead, he came out in 2021. Like many (perhaps even most) of the LGBTQ+ community, he has used multiple labels to describe himself, but especially queer \u2014 a unifying umbrella term for the community as a whole but also for individuals.<\/p>\n
Archuleta would later leave the Mormon church. His mother and other family members also left in solidarity, not wanting to belong to an organization that would condemn their loved one.<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0216_davidarchuleta_03-1024x683.jpg\")
![\"David](\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0216_davidarchuleta_01-1024x683.jpg\")
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