In the wake of Bruce Jenner’s revealing 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer, Clay Aiken stopped by The Howard Stern Show this morning where he talked about his own experience with formerly living in the closet and eventually coming out publicly as a gay man. The former North Carolina congressional candidate and American Idol runner-up has been notoriously private regarding his personal life, as well as fairly conservative when it comes to social views, so this was an unusually candid interview for him.
The biggest reveal was probably that Aiken claims that he didn’t even realize that he was gay to begin with until he was 24 years old, and that, as an adolescent, he dated girls and did “all of the normal high school stuff” (ie: boning chicks, I assume) before his realization years later.
Howard also pressed him about his current love life, getting him to admit that Seth MacFarlane is one of his big celebrity crushes, and that he largely turns to Facebook to meet men because he “doesn’t leave his house.” Which makes me kind of sad for Clay Aiken, actually. Apparently, the last guy he dated was a law professor who eventually put an end to the relationship, or as Aiken puts it, “Who the f*ck breaks up with Clay Aiken?”
Parts one and two of the interview are below:
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