Clay Aiken says he lost “50 percent” of his fans after he came out as gay in 2008.
The singer — who got his big break in music in 2003 as runner-up on Season 2 on American Idol — revealed he is gay in a People cover story in 2008. In a new interview with the magazine, he revealed that his career took a big turn after he made his sexuality public.
“Back then it was a big deal,” he said, referring to how times have changed in the last 16 years.
“We are in a very different time,” he added. “I lost maybe 50 percent of the fan base.”
When Aiken came out, he was starring in Spamalot on Broadway, and he said his revelation had an impact on ticket sales.
“The first four months that I was in [Spamalot], the show was selling out, standing room only,” he said. “You can actually look at the ticket sales the week after that cover came out. It went from selling very well to the week after the cover came out, the ticket sales dropped. Spamalot ended up closing a few months after that.”
Aiken, who is now 46, decided to come out shortly after his son was born. He was 29 at the time.
“It was the first decision I made as a father,” he said. “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”
He stands behind that decision today, saying he doesn’t regret coming out when he did.
“A lot of people who come out now end up having boosts in popularity because of it. … That’s mind-blowing to me because it’s the opposite of what happened when I came out,” he said. “But it means that there’s progress and it means that as a country, we’re headed in the right direction.”
After more than a decade away from music — which included two unsuccessful runs for Congress — Aiken recently released a holiday album, Christmas Bells Are Ringing.
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