One year after renouncing what he called the gay "lifestyle," Christian recording artist and former reality TV star Davis Mallory has revealed his new straight love life.
The singer posted posted a series of photos with a woman he started dating last month to his 28.5K followers on Instagram.
"Itās crazy what love can do. I love you @rachelevaughanaa," Mallory wrote in a caption for one post showing the couple smooching, cuddling and other PDA selfies and snapshots. "I love you," replied Rachel Vaughan with four heart emojis.
The Georgia native, who calls Nashville home, also posted a video montage of the new couple's travels together over the weekend that he captioned, "Thankful for new memories that someday turn to old photographs."
3 weeks ago, Mallory actually broke the news of his new romance himself. He appeared on a podcast episode that he shared on his Instagram that apparently didn't get any traction. In the caption for the video, he wrote: "When physical intimacy with a man felt hollow, a spiritual journey began. A trip to Hawaii led to a chance encounter with a woman on fire for Jesus, who became a beacon of faith during a time of isolation. This meeting ignited a renewed passion for God."
Fans of MTV's The Real World: Denver may recall the devout Christian came out as gay in 2006, and last competed on the reality competition program The Challenge in 2011.
"I knew I was gay since I was 15," Mallory said in a special Out Magazine feature published on Coming Out Day in 2018. Mallory shared his experience as a closeted gay teen who came out to friends and family as a junior in college and then to the world at 22.
"I wouldn't have called myself 'gay,' as that word had such a strong negative connotation to me. As a boy growing up in Georgia with a very religious family and community, being gay was not at all what I wanted to be," he said. "I had a strong masculine dad who raised me to be tough. My perception of what it meant to be gay was effeminate."
In that 2018 piece, Mallory cited out queer pop stars Adam Lambert, Sam Smith, and Troye Sivan as inspirations for his music career, which he noted faced "limitations to career success" because he was gay. And yet, while acknowledging a lingering "desire to be straight," he declared, "I do feel now that I am proud and happy to be gay."
And he certainly moved in those circles, including at LGBTQ+ events. In May 2020, Mallory posted a birthday greeting to his friend, out trans icon Laverne Cox, sharing selfies and videos of them. He's also posted with out trans recording artist and activist Mila Jam and music industry journalist and digital pro Guyton Porter.
That all changed last year. "I lived the gay lifestyle for about 20 years," he told a crowd at a church in Hawaii last September. He said God "pulled me out of that lifestyle." He performed a song he recorded following his religious awakening, "Baptized."
Mallory told TMZ, which first reported his new hetero romance on Tuesday, that Hawaii is also where he met Vaughan in February 2022 while DJing a wedding. The celebrity gossip site quotes the Christian rocker as saying they began traveling together, became best friends and eventually fell in love, and officially started dating last month.
TMZ reported Vaughan also shared photos on her Instagram account, which is now private, writing: "First day I met Davis in the middle of the ocean we pet wild horses and hitchhiked up the valley." According to the site, they are not living together.
