This week on "Redefining Family," Jonathan interviews internationally recognized and award-winning musician and composer Blake Allen. Blake was raised Mormon and came out to his blood related family at 18 years old, which at the time, did not go over very well. However Blake explains that since then, him and his parents have learned to love each other in the way that they know how, even after he stepped away from the Mormon church.

Blake also opens up about how in college, the suicide of a friend took him through a really dark time in his life, and how he then decided to live his truth and not be afraid of telling his family, and the world, who he really was.

Blake is now married to political drag champion Marti Gould Cummings, and his father even walked him down the aisle! While Blake and his family are examples of how blood relatives can eventually come around, it is always your choice if you choose to let them back in and to also have boundaries and decide the kind of relationship you want to have with them.

******

About Blake Allen

Blake Allen, PhD(c) is an internationally recognized, award-winning composer, musician, orchestrator, and educator. Allen has performed on and off Broadway and at many major music halls around the country including Carnegie Hall, Dr. Phillips Center, Strathmore Music Center, Kennedy Center, as well as on and off Broadway.

Allen has 4 chart-topping albums, with his autobiographical musical-opera the shards of an honor code junkie (#1 Classical Charts and the #1 new cast album on Billboard) garnering 4 million streams. He currently is traveling around the globe with RuPaul’s Drag Race star, Tina Burner, as their music director and collaborator, with their latest show Mix Queen: A Relationship Mixtape topping the comedy charts. Allen also frequently can be heard performing viola with the New York City Ballet and on the Seven Seas on VACAYA with their spouse, Marti Gould Cummings.