Josh “JDA” Davila made the Top 40 of American Idol 12, but was cut during the Las Vegas “sudden death” round after an audacious yet entertaining performance of “Rumor Has It” by Adele.
At the time, the singer crossdressed, but identified as a gay man.
Since then, JDA has become Jaidah Christina and has landed a gig working at a trans-friendly nightclub in Chicago.
“I am not just crossdressing anymore,” Jaidah told Sean Daley of the TV Page. “I am not this gay, feminine boy. I am actually now on hormone replacement therapy. I have been for a year and a half.”
“I don’t even recognize the person that I used to be on Idol,” she said.
“Because I was born a boy, my genes and my body naturally creates testosterone,” she said. “So I need to put a stop to that. If this is something I want to do, then hormone replacement therapy is something I have to do for the rest of my life.”
After Idol, Jaidah went back to selling cosmetics. It was disheartening for her to watch the momentum from television exposure gradually slip away. “There was all this love but then it quickly started fading away,” she said.
Soon after, she started focusing on her transition. “I lost focus on my music. So things didn’t work out for me the way I probably dreamed that I wanted it to. Which is why — even though I know I am still very special and I have that small exposure on television under my belt — I still feel a little mediocre now with that passing and me not being relevant and not doing anything about it.”
Jaidah doesn’t think her sexuality hurt her on Idol. She dishes that EVERYONE knew the producers were gunning for a girl winner. “[They] were so fixated and stuck on the fact that they wanted a female Idol. They knew that from the beginning and we all gossiped about that.”
The singer has no plans on auditioning for another talent show. ” I was traumatized psychologically by being on TV and having something in the palm of my hands and then having it taken away,” said Jaidah, “That really messed me up for a while.”
Read the full interview at TheTVPage
Josh “JDA” Davila – Rumor Has It – American Idol 14
