The Associated Press / Wednesday, Sept. 24
Clay Aiken appears on the cover of the latest People magazine holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay."
The 29-year-old former "American Idol" runner-up, multiplatinum recording artist and Broadway star credits his son, conceived by in-vitro fertilization with friend and producer Jaymes Foster, with making him realize that he could no longer hide his homosexuality from the world.
"It was the first decision I made as a father," Aiken told the magazine, which arrives on newsstands tomorrow. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."
Aiken, who rose to fame on "Idol" in 2003, has long been subject of rumors and tabloid fodder that he was gay, but usually refused to acknowledge them.
The magazine cover features Aiken holding his son, born in August. Aiken, who considers himself a born-again Christian, said he knows he may turn off some fans - known as Claymates - with his admission and his decision to have a child outside traditional marriage.
"I've never intended to lie to anybody at all," he said. "But if they leave, I don't want them to leave hating me."
Gay groups applauded Aiken's public admission.
"We congratulate Clay for making this decision and for setting an example for others and his family," said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Aiken recently released the CD "On My Way Here" and made his Broadway debut this spring in "Monty Python's Spamalot."
Fertile ground
Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman said swimming in Australian Outback waterfalls may promote fertility and might have contributed to her unexpected pregnancy over the past year.
The 41-year-old Aussie, who gave birth to daughter Sunday Rose in July, said she and six other women who swam in the waters of a small Outback town during production of the epic romance "Australia" became pregnant.
"I never thought that I would get pregnant and give birth to a child, but it happened on this movie," Kidman told The Australian Women's Weekly in an interview for the magazine's 75th anniversary edition.
"Seven babies were conceived out of this film and only one was a boy. There is something up there in the Kununurra water because we all went swimming in the waterfalls, so we can call it the fertility waters now."
"Australia," directed by Baz Luhrmann, was filmed in Kununurra, a small town in far northern Western Australia state. The film, which follows the story of a noblewoman on a cattle drive during World War II, is due for release in November.
The actress also commented on the relatively diminutive size of her baby bump throughout her pregnancy.
"I'm so lucky I'm so tall, so I carried small and also, I have to say, I had a birth that I was blessed with, a labor that was very good and a baby that was very good to me in that regard," said Kidman, who is married to country music crooner Keith Urban and has two adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise.
"To be given this again is a beautiful thing. To have raised Bella and Connor since I was 25 and now to be able to do it again at 41 ... wow!"
Custody battle
Actress Sharon Stone has lost another round of custody proceedings over her oldest son.
A San Francisco judge denied her request for primary custody of 8-year-old Roan, who's been living with his father, newspaper executive Phil Bronstein. The couple divorced in 2004 after six years of marriage.
The judge ruled Sept. 12 that Bronstein's home is more stable and structured, reaffirming a 2007 court order that the executive vice president of the San Francisco Chronicle has permanent sole custody of Roan.
Stone retains visitation rights.
Stone has two other sons, Laird and Quinn, whom she adopted on her own.
‘Dancing' elimination
In the blink of an eye, Jeffrey Ross is off ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
The comedian, who suffered a scratched cornea after his professional partner, Edyta Sliwinska, accidentally poked him during a rehearsal, was the first star eliminated from the seventh season of ABC's dancing competition. The pair received a score of 14 out of 30 from the judges - the lowest of the night - for their cha cha cha routine.
"I'm more ha ha ha than cha cha cha," Ross joked while wearing a glittery eye patch.
Before Ross was dismissed, each couple performed a new dance Tuesday. Model-actress Brooke Burke again dominated, scoring a 26 for a quickstep routine. The former host of E!'s "Wild On" and her partner, Derek Hough, also claimed the top score Monday. The night's lowest score went to "Married With Children" actor Ted McGinley.
Posted
Sep 24 2008, 10:53 AM
by
Sharon Eberson