"Yes, fame hit me, but I never really wanted to go on that ride."
Barry Manilow doesn't think it was a surprise to anyone when he revealed that he married his longtime partner and manager, Garry Keif, in 2014.
After opening up to ET about his relationship in an exclusive sit-down interview, the 73-year-old singer appeared on the Today show on Thursday to talk about coming out to the public. "It's not news to me and no news to anybody around me," Manilow said. "I think even fans, I don't think it was news at all. But the [National] Enquirer caught us getting married, and so we were stuck."
The music icon admitted that he doesn't like to talk about his personal life. "I'm a private guy, I'm a musician," he explained. "Yes, fame hit me, but I never really wanted to go on that ride."
Manilow added that he gets "uncomfortable" talking about himself, but "the topic," presumably his sexuality, he's "not uncomfortable about that at all."
"Gary and I have been together for going on 40 years," he pointed out.
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The "Mandy" singer elaborated on keeping his private life private during his interview with ET. "This is my life, we've been together for all these years," Manilow, who was previously married to Susan Deixler from 1964 to 1965, said. "Everybody knows that we're a team. Everybody that I know knows. So it never really dawned on me to say anything about it. I mean, I'm a very private guy."
"I don't even like people knowing the names of my dogs, so for the public to get that close was really very… it was strange that we were even talking about it," he continued. "But I don't mind at all. I'm proud of it, I am. I'm proud of it."
