Barry Manilow Did Not Come Out Sooner: Afraid to Disappoint/What?
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| “Did not want to disappoint his fans” |
*Of all the reasons of someone not coming out this one gets to me more than others which I can understand better. Maybe is just not that I don’t understand it but that I understand too much and I just find it more difficult to swallow, like a fishy smelling oyster. Usually I hear from performers that they were afraid how their mom will take it (like if she didn’t know) or afraid how it will affect my way to make a living and my opportunity to perform.
He was being too honest. This is a singer and performer would have helped so much during the times in which Elton John came out. Manilow would have been so much help during the AiDS crisis when there were no meds and President Reagan (The man needed to get medical help) refused to mention the word AIDS in public until it was confirm that it was not just affecting white straights, six years latter.
Or may be he could have come out during the fight for Same Sex marriage which he has taken advantage of by getting married to his partner. Actually I don’t think he would have ever come out if it wasn’t because he had a boyfriend and he wanted to get married. Not to get found out because every gay person in the world and half of straight most have known that not only was he gay but he was a vey femme gay. Nothing wrong with that unless you are gay and claim top be straight.
On his statement I see unusual honesty which tells me (not about the statement but what it means), he came out because it affected him. He wanted to take advantage what others have fought and had been arrested, outed and ridiculed. It also tells me what a selfish human he is. I don’t know if any good he is done be a giving money to a worthy cause or anything else that would have so much meaning as three words in a time of need and crisis. People that have million of followers have some moral responsibility to whom they are and the people like them.
Have a long marriage Barry, you don’t even have to say thank you.
Have a long marriage Barry, you don’t even have to say thank you.
Barry Manilow has spoken publicly for the first time about being gay, saying he feared he would disappoint his mostly female fan base had he come out decades ago.
The "Can't Smile Without You" singer, now 73, talked with People magazine and "Entertainment Tonight" about his previously secret, almost 40-year romance with husband Garry Kief.
"I thought I would be disappointing them (fans) if they knew I was gay. So I never did anything,” Manilow told People in an interview released on Wednesday.
Barry Manilow (R) and Garry Kief attend the 2016 Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. Steve Granitz / WireImage via Getty Images
New York-born Manilow and his manager Kief had been together for years before marrying quietly in Palm Springs, California, in 2014. A year later his close friend, actress Suzanne Somers, revealed the marriage on a TV talk show, but Manilow never confirmed or commented on it.
"When they found out that Garry and I were together, they (the fans) were so happy. The reaction was beautiful -- strangers commenting 'Great for you!' I'm just so grateful for it," the singer told People.
Manilow said he met Kief in 1978, just a few years after he skyrocketed to fame with romantic ballads like "Mandy" and "Looks Like We Made It".
Manilow told TV show “Entertainment Tonight"
he had never planned to make his relationship with Kief public.
he had never planned to make his relationship with Kief public.
"We've been together all these years. Everybody knows that we're a team. Everybody that I know knows. So it never really dawned on me to say anything about it. I mean, I'm a very private guy," he said.
However, after Somers spoke of their marriage two years ago, Manilow said he has "not read one negative response."
Manilow gave the interviews while promoting his upcoming album “This Is My Town: Songs of New York" and a limited series of U.S. concerts.
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