JoJo Siwa Clarifies Moment She Realized She Had Romantic Feelings for Chris Hughes

During an appearance on the Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth podcast, the 22-year-old Dance Moms alum reflected on her sweet new romance, and recalled the moment she realized her feelings for Hughes went from platonic to romantic.

"It's a beautiful journey," Siwa said. "... I don't know how the universe aligned for Chris to come in my life." She said "serendipity" is her and the Love Island alum's "favorite word."

"If you read the definition of it, it's essentially finding love when you're least looking for it," she shared.

Siwa and Hughes, 32, first sparked romance speculation during their stint on Celebrity Big Brother UK, in which they formed a close relationship, and had many moments that viewers interpreted as flirty.

The singer recalled her first impression of Hughes.

"The first thing that I took in about him was he was a good hugger," she said. "I liked his hug that felt like a nice embrace, and he smelled good. I was like, 'Okay cool."

Siwa -- who was in a relationship with Kath Ebbs at the time -- said neither she nor Hughes were expecting to fall for

"We just kind of bonded right away. And it started very much so as friends," she recalled. "I wasn't looking to fall for him. He wasn't looking to fall for me. We just were having so much fun together. We were having a laugh together. Whenever one of us was down. It was the other one of us that helped."

"We had more fun than I've ever had in my life, I had in that house," she added.

Siwa said that when Celebrity Big Brother ended, she came to the realization that she was "not happy." The "Karma" singer -- who broke up with her ex-partner Ebbs at the afterparty -- said she ultimately confronted her romantic feelings for Hughes.

"I knew all these realizations [about] my life … things that I wasn't happy, and things that I was being OK with that I should never have been OK with," she said.

"I'm not happy, and so I need to handle things. And I did very quickly once I got out of the house," she continued. "And then over a little bit of time, I realized that I started to feel something for Christopher that I never intended to, but I couldn't not feel.”

“I am a very, very lucky girl," Siwa shared, "because he was feeling the same thing."

The Nickelodeon alum circled back to the word "serendipity," recalling how she and Hughes first discovered the word while watching the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? together.

"The answer to the winning question was 'serendipity,'" she said. "And somebody replied and said, 'Do you know what serendipity is? It's literally you and JoJo.' And we Googled it and both of us freaked out because we were like, that's crazy that that was the million-dollar question answer. And that is exactly what we've really struggled to explain."

Siwa's appearance on the podcast comes just a few days after she confirmed her relationship with Hughes was no longer "platonic."

In an interview with The Guardian, she revealed where she stands with Hughes after he posted a selfie of the pair looking very cozy in bed together.

"It's not platonic any more, and it's been a beautiful development, a beautiful connection, and I'm absolutely head over heels for him and he's the same way," Siwa revealed to the publication, referring to their first joint interview, on This Morning, where they labelled their relationship as a "platonic soulmate" connection.

The reporter for The Guardian noted how happy Siwa was while speaking about Hughes before noting that there are critics suggesting the new relationship with Hughes is a "PR stunt."

"Clearly, you've never been around us. I won't ever speak for him, but for me personally, the happiness in my life just radiates off of me right now. Literally yesterday, I was massaging my cheeks; I've never [before] been in pain from smiling so much," she shared.

Siwa doesn't have to speak for Hughes, as he has also revealed where their relationship stands in his own way, by sharing a selfie -- possibly naked -- of the duo in bed together. 

"People can see our chemistry, and they got to see it develop," Siwa noted elsewhere in the interview before admitting that she understands why the public is "curious" about them.

Following CBB UK, the pair fueled rumors after Siwa broke up with her partner, Kath Ebbs, at the wrap party, with many speculating that Siwa's relationship with Hughes may have been the reason behind the split.

Siwa -- who identified as a lesbian prior to the show, but came out as queer during filming -- has continued to shut down claims her split from Ebbs was due her friendship with Hughes.