Will Clay Aiken Come Out in ABC Interview?

Mon. September 18, 2006

Clay Aiken is expected to address gay rumors and possibly come out during Diane Sawyer interview to air this week on ABC

Chicago, IL - American Idol season two runner-up Clay Aiken, has pre-taped an interview with Diane Sawyer to air this Tuesday, September 19, on ABC's Good Morning America. (WLS, ABC 7, Chicago)

The interview is an effort to promote Aiken’s third album, "A Thousand Different Ways", hitting stores September. 19. Aiken appeared last week on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC and is scheduled to appear on ABC's The View on September 22 and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live talk show on September 26th.

Aiken’s new album, the first record since 2004, combines ten cover versions of well known songs from the 1970's. 1980's, and 1990's along with four brand new original songs.

Insiders indicate that Clay Aiken comes close to coming out of the closet in the Diane Sawyer interview on Good Morning America this week. Aiken is said to address the half-naked photos of him floating around the Internet and his problem with depression.

Gossip columnist Perez Hilton reports:

"According to a well-placed source, Gayken will admit that he is on the anti-depressant Paxil. Diane Sawyer will not be asking Clay directly if he is gay, but she will give him a hypothetical question such as...if these rumors were said about some guy in the Midwest how should he address it?

In Clay's response, he dances around the question by answering with a hypothetical non-denial denial."

Aiken has battled rumors about his sexuality for years. In January 2006, John Paulus first alleged a sexual encounter with Aiken. At that time, The National Enquirer, Star Magazine, and The Globe published interviews with Paulus. The New York Post and The New York Daily News reported on the story in their gossip columns.

During a recent interview with Chicago’s Feast of Fools, Paulus restated his claim that he had unprotected sex with Aiken in a North Carolina hotel room. Paulus told FOF that he has a "towel" stained with Aiken’s DNA, a claim he also made on the Howard Stern show in February 2006.

Aiken and his representatives have neither acknowledged nor denied Paulus' story. Aiken has repeatedly denied he is gay.

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