Nearly a decade after revealing he’s gay, music legend Barry Manilow reflected on why he didn’t speak publicly about his sexuality in the past.
Videos by Suggest
During a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Manilow spoke about how the world reacted to him coming out.
“It was a non-event,” he stated. “Nobody gave a s—.”
Manilow also said, “They all knew. I never really hid it, but in the ’70s and ’80s, that would have killed the career, and I didn’t want to do that. So I just never talked about it.”
The music legend came out gay less than three years after he and Garry Kief got married. He was previously married to his high school girlfriend, Susan Deixler, in the mid-1960s.
Manilow and Kief have notably been a couple for nearly 50 years.
Speaking about his marriage to Kief, Manilow said, “Garry and I are just two guys that live in a house on a hill with two dogs that we love.”
Manilow Once Said He Feared Coming out Gay Would Disappoint His Fans
While being open about his sexuality for the first time, Manilow admitted that he feared coming out gay would disappoint some of his fans.
“I thought I would be disappointing them if they knew I was gay. So I never did anything,” he said at the time. “When they found out that Garry and I were together, they were so happy. The reaction was so beautiful – strangers commenting, ‘Great for you!’ I’m just so grateful for it.”
Manilow further spoke about marrying Deixler. “I was in love with Susan,” he said. “I just was not ready for marriage.”
He then noted, “I was out making music every night, sowing my wild oats – I was too young. I wasn’t ready to settle down.”
Speaking about Kief, Manilow shared, “He’s the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life — and a great guy, too.”
The late Suzanne Somers also spoke out about Manilow. “There’s Barry Manilow the performer, and then there’s the Barry ‘machine.’ It takes enormous savvy and know-how to book and market complicated arena tours, choreograph promotion, direct the entire team, and make it look effortless, and that part is Garry’s domain. A major career takes two. Between them, there is enormous comfort and trust.”