I first read this story at People Magazine, and I didn’t think too much of it, mostly because I didn’t have any name-recognition for this country star, Ty Herndon. He says, in a new interview, that he’s “an out, proud and happy gay man.” But this story got interesting really quickly once a few little details came together. The basic gist is that Ty is now our first out-and-proud gay country music star. And good for him. As I read People’s story, my first thought was “Oh, he’s 51 years old? That’s kind of old to be coming out publicly for the first time, but sure, good for him.” Then I watched a clip of his big coming out interview on Entertainment Tonight and OMG!
First of all, Ty Herndon has been married. TWICE. To women! And ET asks him flat-out if his wives knew and he says “Absolutely.” #BeardFail? He later explains: “I’ve dreamed about being in country music since I was 6 years old. It’s my life, it’s what I do, it’s who I am, and I went to great lengths to cover up that fact to be to be a country star.” Wow. So he played the part of a heterosexual country star for years, even going so far as to marry two women just to complete the facade?
He also briefly discusses an old incident – from the ‘90s – in which a male undercover cop claimed that Ty exposed himself in a public park. Ty’s explanation for that? “I wish I had really great recall or memory about that. I think I had been up for like 6 days doing drugs that night and the day was really a huge blur for me.” Well, goddurn, Ty. I mighta done something vaguely homosexual but I was on too many drugs to remember it clearly. Yay, country music!
Anyway, Ty says he’s now clean and sober and he’s been in a relationship with a man for five years. Ty says: “I love him very much and he loves me.” He’s also hoping his boyfriend proposes to him and “I do want children one day, you know. I do want to be married one day.” You already were married, dude! TWICE! Here’s the video:
I mean… I’m glad he’s finally coming out and telling his truth. But it sounds like he went through a lot of trouble to stay in the closet for a really long time. And I’d kind of like to hear from his two wives to see if they “absolutely” knew what was up when they married him.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
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