Clay Aiken On Romantic Relationships: I Don't Have Any Desire

Clay Aiken sat down with the new issue of New York Magazine to promote his run in Broadway's Spamalot. But Aiken ended up on a tangent about his personal life, saying he has no sex life and no desire. He has refused to talk about it in the past, and recently got in a spat with Newsweek when they tried to ask about it.

"Let's not fool ourselves," he says with his eyebrows up in his arch, queeny way. "The truth is? There are people like Justin Timberlake, males who are cool on radio right now, and then there's me. If I heard myself in a dance club? If I went into a dance club--which I never do--and I heard Clay Aiken come on, I'd roll my eyes and get out. But you know what? I'm fine with being kind of vanilla! It's oh-kye!" In his book, Aiken says that it's not just clubs but also bars he dislikes: "The only reason people go to bars is to get drunk and have sex. To me, bars are what hell is like."

He imagines his social life here will be "nonexistent, really. I'm not a nighttime person." He does not plan on dating, and he is not involved with anyone. "Heck, no," he says. "My dogs." He has never had a romantic relationship with anyone, unless you count the girls he took to dances back in high school in Raleigh. "I just don't have an interest in ... any of that at all. I have got too much on my plate," he says. "I'd rather focus on one thing and do that when I can devote time to it, and right now, I just don't have any desire."

But Aiken is 29 years old and he is also a human. Surely he must have needs. Urges. He contemplates this in silence for 20 or 30 seconds. "Ah think maybe I don't! I mean, not really. I've just kind of shut it off, maybe. Is that bad?"

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Comments

[Mykel]

Oh, for God's sake, people! Isn't it obvious? HE'S A CLOSETED HOMOSEXUAL!!!

Being painfully shy doesn't help, either.

Let's not mince words, though: when grown men, wealthy beyond imagination, are too threatened by society's homophobia and what it might do to their income stream, we, as a society need to recall what we---yes WE---did to Michael Jackson and all those innocent young boys he "knew."

We also need to understand that this same dynamic is at work among priests.

Barring some medical ailment, there is simply no such thing as "asexuality," and it's dangerous even to comtemplate it.

Aiken just needs to let go and get some!

[slobone]

Wow, when did New York magazine get so snotty? Calling him queeny, and making fun of his Southern accent? That's high-class journalism if ever I read it!

[charlot]

Spoken like a true closet case. Oh well, at least he's not lying and saying he's interested in girls. That would just be sad.

[Trilby]

I think it's refreshing, if he is being honest. It is ok to be asexual and know it. I give him props, seriously, for knowing himself and chosing his own way. What is wrong with that? Some people are just like that. Should they push themselves on a spouse who will end up horribly disappointed?

[Political Voyeur]

I don't think anyone has any interest back, Clay... except maybe Richard Simmons?

[MyCatSnores]

um, okay. Hey, Mr. Aiken, your hair dresser needs to be seriously and forever fired.

[Alexandra Simone]

It's because he's asexual. :3