*NSYNC Interview
interview title: Lance Bass: I'm Gay
Interview Date: WEDNESDAY JULY 26, 2006 08:30AM
Interview source: PEOPLE Magazine
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Lance Bass, the former 'N Sync heartthrob, reveals that he is gay in an exclusive
interview with PEOPLE.
"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers
in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was
gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates
Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.
"I didn't know: Could that be the end of 'N Sync? So I had that weight
on me of like, 'Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never
did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time
with PEOPLE.
Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred,
Southern Baptist-reared Bass,
27, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then his shocked
family.
"He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone," says
his close buddy Fatone, 29, who was the first 'N Sync bandmate to find out Bass
is gay. "I back him up 100 percent." Adds Bass's longtime pal, actress
Christina Applegate: "I've always accepted him as who he is. It's about
his own serenity at this point."
Having pursued acting, producing and - most memorably - space flight after
'N Sync went on hiatus in 2002, Bass now is looking ahead to new beginnings.
He is in a "very stable" relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race
winner Reichen Lehmkuhl, 32, and is developing an Odd Couple-inspired sitcom
pilot with Fatone in which his character will be gay.
Mostly, though, he's just enjoying the relief that comes with the culmination
of a long, at times emotionally fraught journey.
"The thing is, I'm not ashamed - that's the one thing I want to say," he
explains of his decision to come out. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not
devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been
my whole life. I'm just happy."
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