When Clay Aiken came out into the world in 2008, the public didn’t react the way they probably would today.
Shortly after the birth of son Parker in August 2008 american idol alum came out as gay on the cover of PEOPLE. At the time, Aiken said he wanted to fulfill a promise he made to himself as a new dad.
“It was the first decision I made as a father,” Aiken, 29, said at the time. “I can’t raise a child to lie or hide things. I wasn’t raised that way and I won’t raise a child that way.”
Now 46, Aiken reflects on that moment with PEOPLE and says much of his public persona revolved around speculation about his sexuality. Although he’s glad he was able to clear it up – it came at a price.
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“It was a big deal back then,” says Aiken, who recently marked his return to music with Christmas bells are ringing.
At the time, Aiken was acting on Broadway Spamalotand after the release he noticed a drastic change in ticket sales.
“The first four months I was there, the show was sold out, standing room only. You can actually look at ticket sales a week after the cover came out,” he says. “From selling very well until the week after the cover came out, ticket sales dropped. Spamalot ended up shutting down a few months after that.”
“We are in a completely different time,” he continues. “I lost maybe 50 percent of my fan base.”
Still, Aiken has no regrets and is “thrilled” to know that “that’s not the world we live in anymore.”
“A lot of people who come out now end up getting a boost in popularity because of it… It’s amazing to me because it’s the opposite of what happened when I came out,” he says. “But it means that there is progress and it means that we are on the right track as a country.”
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Clay Aiken on American Idol.
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On November 22, Aiken released a holiday album after more than a decade off from music titled Christmas bells are ringing. The album celebrated tradition and nostalgia with favorite holiday standards from greats like Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Paul McCartney.
“I really wanted to do songs that people know is Christmas. I mean, it’s about nostalgia. It’s that time of the year at the end of the year when we look back at the year we’ve had and think, and we also like those memories from years past,” he says.
After coming in second place at IdolAiken toured the country and made his Broadway debut. He was also the first Idol alum to have his first single debut at no. 1 on Billboard Hot 100, earn a platinum single and triple platinum album.
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