Two weeks after announcing he is a gay man on the cover of People magazine, Clay Aiken took to his website blog Monday to explain his coming-out decision to his fans.

"I would have preferred to separate my personal life from my professional life," Aiken, 29, writes on clayonline.com. "But, living as myself without discussing my sexuality publicly would have been as impossible."

Aiken has no regrets about not coming out earlier, saying, "I have the same liberties and rights that every single gay man and woman in the world should have, the right to determine for myself when I was ready to discuss my personal life."

In a 2003 Rolling Stone interview, Aiken said that male celebrities are either considered womanizers or gay. "Since I'm neither one of those, people are completely concerned about me," he said.

He says he will not apologize for the response, saying, "When this guy started asking me about things that I didn't really know how to answer for myself, things that I was not yet ready to admit to folks like my mother and my family, things that I found intimidating and invasive, I responded in what I assumed was a benign way at the time."

"I am not defined by my sexuality. It is, simply, a small facet of the same person I have always been. Nothing has changed," Aiken concludes on his blog.

Last update: 10-07-2008 16:56