Rapper 50 Cent has spoken openly about the longstanding rumors surrounding the sexuality of his late mother, confirming she was a lesbian.

The ‘Candy Shop’ R&B artist sat down with gay celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, and discussed being brought up by his grandmother following the death of his mom at a young age.

He said: ‘My mom was a lesbian. Yeah, she liked women. My whole childhood was like that.

‘It’s two different things too – from a female perspective, when you see two females together, you think, oh, they’re just girlfriends, they’re close. But, with my mom, the male was missing.

‘So, when you’re that small, that’s all you interpret it as you don’t see anything that would indicate that there’s other things going on.’

It seems 50 Cent has had a change of heart on homosexuality, as the rapper was previously criticized for his homophobic lyrics and told Playboy in 2004 he wasn’t ‘into faggots’.

In 2010, he tweeted hateful remarks following the suicide of gay teen Tyler Clementi.

He said: ‘If you a man and your over 25 and you don’t eat pussy just kill your self damn it. The world will be a better place. Lol.'

But after US President Barack Obama’s historic backing of marriage equality, it prompted the rapper to think again.

‘If the president is [endorsing] that, then who am I to go the other way?' he said.

50 Cent has also supported newly out rapper Frank Ocean, saying anyone who has a problem with him is an ‘idiot’.