Wed. September 24, 2008
New York -
After years of avoiding the question, singer Clay Aiken has confirmed that he is gay in a magazine interview.
"It was the first decision I made as a father," Aiken told People Magazine of his decision to reveal his sexuality. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things."
Aiken appears on the cover of this week's magazine cradling the newborn baby, Parker Foster Aiken, who was conceived through in vitro fertilization with record producer Jaymes Foster. The headline on the cover says it all, "Yes, I'm Gay."
The 29-year-old Aiken has been dogged by gay rumors since he was the runner-up on American Idol a few years ago. Aiken rarely addressed the frequent rumors about his sexuality. Two years ago, he said: "I don't really feel like I have anybody to answer to but myself and God and the people I love."
In 2006 John Paulus, ex-military and porn actor, claimed to have met Aiken online and then engaged in a bareback sexual encounter in a North Carolina hotel room. Aiken denied the rumors despite Paulus' threat to produce a towel stained with Aiken's DNA as proof of the alleged encounter.
Paulus spoke in detail to the Feast of Fools podcast in 2006 about his alleged sexual encounter with Aiken.
Aiken currently appears on Broadway in "Monty Python's SPAMALOT."
Related Blog: Feast of Fools on Clay Aiken's coming out
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