“I didn’t want my career to end.”

entertainment

By Ashley Hume, Fox News

Barry Manilow has spoken about keeping his sexuality a secret because of his fears that revealing it would jeopardize his career.

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 80-year-old singer, who revealed he was gay in 2017, said he struggled with hiding his sexuality for years.

“I didn’t want my career to disappear. I love him. I’m grateful for that. But it was a burden to keep calm,” Manilow said. “I was always worried.

“In every interview, they ask me whether I am gay or not.” By the way, no one has done that before. They never asked me the $64 question.

The Grammy Award winner recalled a conversation he said he had with Clive Davis in the 1980s, in which the record producer indicated that music legend Elton John’s career was damaged after he revealed his sexual orientation.

He said: “You know, Elton John came out as bisexual.” No artist should ever do that. “It will hurt your career,” Manilow told the outlet.

John, 76, announced he was bisexual when he was 29 in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone. The “Bennie and the Jets” singer was an international rock star at the time. When he was 45 in 1992, John said he was “very comfortable being gay” during another interview with Rolling Stone.

Davis, 91, revealed that he is bisexual in his 2013 memoir, “The Soundtrack of My Life.” The five-time Grammy Award winner, who was previously married to Janet Adelburg and Helen Cohen, wrote that he has had relationships with men since the late 1970s.

However, Davis told The Hollywood Reporter that he doesn’t remember having the conversation Manilow remembered.

“We never went there,” Davis told the outlet. “If this had been brought up, to analyze the impact it would have, I would have said it was a risky proposition for the profession. But we never discussed whether he should come out because he never told me he was gay.

Manilow met his husband, Gary Keefe, in 1978, and they married in April 2014. The singer was previously married to his high school sweetheart, Susan Dixler. The two married in 1964 but their marriage was annulled a year later.

The singer explained his decision to hide his sexual orientation in a 2017 interview with People magazine, during which he revealed that he was gay for the first time.

During the interview, Manilow discussed his long-standing romance with Kiev. In 2015, reports first emerged about his sex life and marriage to Kiev, which he described as a “blessing and a curse.” He told people he kept his sexuality hidden for fear of letting his fans down.

“I thought I would disappoint them if they knew I was gay. So, I never did anything,” Manilow explained.

However, Manilow said his fans were supportive when he came out.

“When they found out that my neighbor and I were together, they were so happy. The reaction was so lovely – strangers commented, saying: ‘Great for you!’” “I’m very grateful for that,” he said.

The New York native told People magazine that he knew he met the right person when he first started dating Kiev.

“I knew this was it,” Manilow recalls. “I was one of the lucky ones. I was very lonely before that.”

Manilow said he always wanted to keep his private life out of the spotlight.

“I’m very private. I always have been,” he said.

During a 2017 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Manilow talked about being a stepfather to Kirsten Cave, 47, Cave’s daughter from a previous marriage.

“We have a daughter, Gary’s biological daughter, Kirsten, and we’ve raised her together all these years,” the “Copacabana” singer said. “Kirsten turns out to be one of the most beautiful and intelligent women you will ever meet.”

In an October interview with People magazine, Manilow shared his excitement at becoming a grandfather for the first time after Kirsten adopted a baby girl.

“Gary’s daughter Kirsten adopted a little girl, so now I’m a grandfather,” he said. “I never thought about having a child or having anything to do with being a father or anything like that.

“I’m watching this little girl – she’s two and a half years old – growing and learning. It’s a new experience for me, and I’m really enjoying it.”