American Idol alum Clay Aiken is reflecting on his 2008 decision to come out and its impact on his career.
Videos by Suggest
Of course, in 2003, Aiken rose to fame as the runner-up on the second season of American Idol, losing to Ruben Studdard. His debut album, Measure of a Man, achieved multi-platinum status.
In August 2008, shortly after the birth of his son, Parker, the singer made headlines by coming out as gay on the cover of People magazine. Aiken explained that his decision was driven by a promise he had made to himself upon becoming a father.
“It was the first decision I made as a father,” Aiken told the outlet then. “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.”
Aiken Believes His Fame Took a Hit After Coming Out
Looking back, the 46-year-old believes much of his public image was shaped by speculation about his sexuality. While he’s glad he was able to address it, his fame at the time took a hit.
“Back then it was a big deal,” he recently told People.
After coming out, Aiken was performing in Broadway’s Spamalot and noticed a clear change in ticket sales after his announcement.
“The first four months that I was in, the show was selling out, standing room only. You can actually look at the ticket sales the week after that cover came out,” he recalled to the outlet. “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.”
“We are in a very different time,” the singer added. “I lost maybe 50 percent of the fan base.”
Clay Aiken Reflects on ‘Progress’ the United States Has Made
However, Aiken doesn’t regret his choice to go public with his sexuality. He’s also happy that coming out isn’t such a big deal for pop stars nowadays.
“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 gushed. “But it means that there’s progress and it means that as a country, we’re headed in the right direction.”
Meanwhile, Aiken has returned with new music. On Nov. 22, he dropped his holiday album, Christmas Bells Are Ringing.
“I really wanted to do songs that people know Christmas is about,” he said. “I mean, it is about nostalgia. It’s that time of year at the end of the year where we look back on the year that we’ve had and reflect, and we also like those memories from years past.”