Clay Aiken recalls losing ’50 percent’ of his fans after coming out in 2008

Clay Aiken recently looked back at the challenges he faced when he came out in 2008 and how far society has come since then.

The “American Idol” alum first revealed his sexuality as a gay man on the cover of People Magazine in 2008 after welcoming her son Parker in August of that year.

“It was the first decision I made as a father,” Aiken explained of his decision to come out at the time. “I can’t raise a child to lie or hide things. I wasn’t raised that way and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”

In an interview December 10 with PeopleAiken reflected on how much speculation about his sexuality shaped his public persona. While the 2008 release brought clarity, he said it came at a cost.

“Back then, it was a big deal,” he said, recalling the impact it had on his Broadway run in “Spamalot” at the time.

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“The first four months I was in, the show was sold out, standing room only. You can actually look at the ticket sales the week after the cover came out,” he explained, referring to his People cover from 2008. “It went from selling very well until the week after the cover came out, ticket sales dropped. ‘Spamalot’ ended up closing a few months after that.”

“We are in a very different time,” he added. “I lost maybe 50% of the fan base.”

Despite the setbacks, Aiken said he has no regrets and is grateful that the world has changed for the better.

“A lot of people who come out now end up having spikes in popularity because of it… It’s amazing to me because it’s the opposite of what happened when I came out,” he said. “But it means there is progress, and it means we as a country are moving in the right direction.”

After finishing as runner-up on “American Idol,” Aiken toured across the United States and made her Broadway debut. He was also the first “American Idol” alum to debut a single at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Last month, Aiken returned to music after more than a decade with his new holiday album, “Christmas Bells Are Ringing.”

Clay Aiken recalls losing ’50 percent’ of his fans after coming out in 2008 originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com