Barry Manilow finally opens up about being gay and his 40-year romance

Barry Manilow Details His Life A Closeted Gay Man And 40-Year Romance

We get that it can take gays and lesbians quite some time to be comfortable enough to come out to their family and friends, but Marry Manilow has held on for much longer than most…

According to PEOPLE, the iconic 73-year-old singer is ready to live his truth.

Barry has been all booed up with his husband (and manager) Gary Kief for almost 40 years without his “secret” ever going public.

“I’m so private. I always have been.”

As a young man, Manilow was married to his high school sweetheard, Susan Deixler.

“I was in love with Susan,” says Manilow of the woman he married after graduating high school, “I just was not ready for marriage.” The star maintains he wasn’t struggling with his sexuality at the time of their one-year matrimony. “I was out making music every night, sowing my wild oats — I was too young. I wasn’t ready to settle down.”

When asked why he was so fearful of coming out, it wasn’t his family and friends he was worried about, it was his fans:

“I thought I would be disappointing them if they knew I was gay. So I never did anything,” says Manilow. Turns out, “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.”

Had to be tough to keep up a lie for that long. Least he can live the rest of his days in peace.

Image via WENN