“I’m just so grateful for her love and she’s my soulmate,” Kiyoko tells in this week’s issue
Hayley Kiyoko viewed relationships in a new light after meeting girlfriend Becca Tilley
Speaking to in this week’s issue, the singer-songwriter opened up about her loving relationship with the Bachelor alum — and revealed how she’s taught her that healthy relationships do exist.
“Our journey has been wonderful and beautiful. I think I’ve [also] healed a lot of my younger self in my relationship with Becca,” Kiyoko, 32, tells .
In 2015, she came out through her confessional song “Girls Like Girls” — which is now being expanded into a novel with the same name, out May 30 — where she detailed her first love and heartbreak in high school at 17.
“Because of this instance and this experience I had during this ‘Girls Like Girls’ time, I built this grudge or felt like if someone is not willing to be with me right now in this moment and parade me around, then they don’t really love me,” she says.
Kiyoko continues, “I don’t think that that’s true. I don’t think that that’s a fair statement to make. I think that because of the experiences I had and because of the heartbreak that I had, I carried that with me.”
When she met Tilley, 34, in 2018, “everything changed.”
“I realized that we’re all on so many different parts of our [coming out] journeys,” Kiyoko says. “Just because we’re in two different places in our journey doesn’t mean that we can’t still coexist and love each other and have an incredible relationship, until she’s ready to share that with everyone.”
The “Demons” singer then said that this was a “massive learning” and “healing” moment for her.
“That doesn’t mean that they don’t want to be with you and that they don’t love you and that they’re not going to show up for you,” Kiyoko says. “I’ve been so grateful for our relationship and our journey, and our decision to keep our relationship private for so long. I also love being able to share our relationship as well.”
The couple celebrated their five-year anniversary in April. In light of the milestone, Kiyoko opened up about what she loved most in their relationship. (Though Kiyoko and Tilley have been dating since 2018, they didn’t confirm it until May 2022 when Kiyoko hosted a release party for her single “For the Girls.”)
“I love that we continue to grow with one another, and she is such a supportive partner and we get to laugh through life together. We have so much fun together,” she says.
“We could be doing anything and having the best time, even if things aren’t going great or we’re going through highs or lows and the whirls, we’re able to just be there with one another,” Kiyoko concludes. “I’m so grateful for her love and she’s my soulmate. It’s been really great to get to share our love with everyone. She’s the best.”