Taylor Bruck and Lauren Lanzaretta.Photo:Taylor Bruck
Taylor Bruck
To viewers, it sounded like a fairly typical on-air chat between two weekend morning news anchors at Spectrum News 1 Ohio — but for Taylor Bruck, it meant a whole lot more.
Alexa Maslowski, Bruck’s co-anchor, was discussing how she spent herThanksgivingwhen Bruck said the extent of her plans centered around visiting her “girlfriend" in Cleveland.
Bruck, 25, tells PEOPLE that the decision to “come out” on-air during the Nov. 26 broadcast was a “spur-of-the-moment" thing.
“I told myself, ‘Just say it,’” she shares. “When I finally said it out loud, I smiled inside because it was a big moment for me."
The Emmy-winning reporter, whose station covers Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, as well as other areas of the state, thenshared the clip on social mediato celebrate the first time she said “girlfriend” on television.
“A seemingly simple yet scary word… I said ‘girlfriend’ on air for the first time today, which some people may say ‘ok, who cares?’ … but to me it’s a step toward accepting and loving myself fully and being authentic on and off the air," she captioned the video. “IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS 🥰🥂🥳.”
But the Ohio native, who graduated college in 2020, says she didn’t “realize how meaningful it would be for over a million people worldwide.”
Taylor Bruck.Taylor Bruck
“Messages are pouring in from all around the world, including Ghana, Germany, Australia, London, as well as many states across the U.S.,” Bruck tells PEOPLE of the surreal impact. “People are telling me how much this visibility means to them and that they’re so proud of me.”
Bruck met her girlfriend, singer-songwriter Lauren Lanzaretta, in Cleveland while the anchor was working in the city. The pair bonded over their love forMariah Careyand “passion for living life to the fullest without taking it too seriously."
Coming out on-air was significant for Bruck, who has always been “very open” about being gay on social media. “I always try to encourage others to live their truths, so I decided to fully live mine,” she says.
Still, Bruck doesn’t see herself as a hero and says that her sexual orientation isn’t solely what defines her. “I’m just being myself — a journalist and a news anchor who loves her job and happens to be gay,” she says.
And as she approaches the end of a year in which she’s been her most truthful self, Bruck is looking forward to being with family and Lanzaretta during the holidays. The couple has already shared some specialChristmas eventstogether.
“Lauren and I went to Mariah Carey’s Christmas concert in Detroit and had a blast!” she says. “We also put up our first Christmas tree together and made Lauren’s apartment nice and cozy. We both plan to spend time with our families on Christmas and enjoy the rest of what 2023 has to offer!”
As she looks towards the new year, Bruck says she feels proud to have her personal and professional “support system."
“I’m so grateful for being able to be myself on and off the screen because visibility matters," she says, “and it saves lives.”
source: people.com
