Clay Aiken Is ‘Thrilled’ by Greater Acceptance in Society: Report

Clay Aiken has opened up about the difficulties he faced when coming out years ago, but he said he was “thrilled” that people today are facing greater acceptance in society, according to People Magazine.

When he came out in a cover story on the magazine, it was because of his child, People reported. “It was the first decision I made as a father,” Aiken said at the time, according to People. “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.”

In a December 10 article, Aiken recalled, “Back then it was a big deal.” He was the second-place finisher in the 2003 season of “American Idol.”

But he said times have changed and “that’s not the world we live in” now.

“A lot of people who come out now end up having boosts in popularity because of it… That’s mind-blowing to me because it’s the opposite of what happened when I came out,” he told People. “But it means that there’s progress and it means that as a country, we’re headed in the right direction.”

Clay Aiken Said He Lost 50 Percent of His ‘Fan Base’ After Coming Out

When Aiken came out in 2008, times were very different, he told People.

“The first four months that I was in, the show was selling out, standing room only. You can actually look at the ticket sales the week after that cover came out,” he told People. “It went from selling very well to the week after the cover came out, the ticket sales dropped. Spamalot ended up closing a few months after that.”

“We are in a very different time,” he added, saying, “I lost maybe 50 percent of the fan base.”

Clay Aiken Just Released a New Holiday Album

EntertainmentNow/Getty

According to People, Aiken has returned to music with a holiday album, “Christmas Bells Are Ringing.”

“I really wanted to do songs that people know Christmas is about. I mean, it is about nostalgia. It’s that time of year at the end of the year where we look back on the year that we’ve had and reflect, and we also like those memories from years past,” he told People.

Aiken is on Instagram, where he has 163,000 followers. On November 22, he wrote on his Instagram page, “It’s no secret that Christmas is my favorite holiday and that Christmas music is my jam (is that what the kids say?). I’m so excited to share ‘Christmas Bells Are Ringing’ with you all.”

Aiken told NPR, “Christmas music sounds warm and inviting. It should feel familiar. It should make you want to sit by the fire with a sweater and a mug of hot cocoa, you know?”