Billionaire Barry Diller Outs Gay Partners, Including American Icon's Stepson in Surprising Revelation
Rewritten Article:
Locked away for years, billionaire Barry Diller's secret gay lovers are finally seeing the light of day. At 83, with a net worth of $4.6 billion, Diller is preparing to spill the beans in his upcoming book, Who Knew.
Hollywood's well-kept secret, Diller's sexuality has been an open secret in the industry. But now, he's ready to confirm it to the world.
The entrepreneur is offering a sneak peek into the jigsaw of his illicit affairs, candidly revealing Diane Von Furstenberg as the only woman he ever loved sincerely. Rumors abound that Diller had romantic entanglements with Michael Bennett, the mastermind behind A Chorus Line, and Johnny Carson's stepson[3].
Although Maureen Dowd didn't name the stepson and Diller's book hasn't hit the shelves yet, Carson only had one stepson - Joe Holland - who passed away due to complications with AIDS in 1994.
Likewise, Michael Bennett, the Broadway mastermind, also lost his life to the same insidious disease in 1987.
From a young age, Diller knew he was gay, but his troubled older brother's drug addiction made him apprehensive about adding to his parents' woes[4]. He says he decided to keep his sexuality a secret to avoid being labeled a "fairy" in the competitive industry.
Yet, countless whispers and innuendos have surrounded Diller throughout his career. In 1974, he narrowly escaped being outed by People Magazine, who were planning a "mean and homophobic" expose on him. However, the article was more critical of his business acumen, leaving Diller breathing a sigh of relief.
Two decades later, a rumor about his HIV status began circulating during his association with QVC and his attempt to secure Paramount. When a Times reporter asked him about the rumor, he was taken aback but assured them he was perfectly fine.
In 1995, his friend Michael Eisner outed him to Disney executives, advocating that Diller's sexuality should have no bearing on his fitness for the role of CEO of the company[5]. Alas, this move doomed his chances of snagging the job.
Diller and von Furstenberg led separate lives during their marriage, with him residing at the Carlyle hotel and her above her business in the Meatpacking District.
Their first meeting was hardly magical. At a lavish Manhattan dinner party in 1974, Diller, the reserved movie man, was dismissed by von Furstenberg, who was captivated by someone else.
However, their second encounter a year later was a different story. He found himself inundated with attention, a stark contrast to their initial encounter. They struckup a friendship that eventually led to a relationship, and Diller found himself smitten.
As Diller states, he felt like a fish out of water in von Furstenberg's haute monde: "I was standing alone next to the fireplace feeling I did not belong in this group when 'Prince' Egon von Furstenberg walked up to me and said, 'Your pants are too short.'"
But when they met again, she was all over him, and he couldn't believe the transformation. They eventually took their relationship to the next level, with Diller expressing his desire to keep in touch, and von Furstenberg eagerly responding.
Now, after all these years, Diller is ready to tell his truth in his upcoming book, confessing that he yearned to narrate the entire story and knew he had to speak the truth.
"I wanted to tell the story, and I knew if I told the story, I had to tell the truth," Diller told The Times.
Diller acknowledges that most people probably guessed his sexuality long before he came out and humorously confesses that he was in a "brightly-lit, glass closet" prior to publicly acknowledging his sexuality.
According to Diller, his reluctance to come out earlier helped him catapult to incredible career success. He believed that his anxiety about being outed fueled his decisive and fearless leadership.
However, he regrets not coming out sooner and expresses a desire to have been a role model for gay men of his generation who felt ashamed of their sexuality.
- Barry Diller's upcoming book, Who Knew, promises to delve into various aspects of his life, including his sexual relationships with men in the entertainment industry.
- The book may reveal Diller's romantic entanglements with celebrities like Michael Bennett and Johnny Carson's stepson, Joe Holland, both of whom succumbed to AIDS.
- Diller's lifestyle and relationships could also extend to his career, as he suggests that his reluctance to come out earlier fueled his success in the business world, contributing to his decisive and fearless leadership.
- Diller's book will also address his health-and-wellness journey, acknowledging his regrets about not coming out sooner and expressing his desire to have been a role model for gay men of his generation who felt ashamed of their sexuality, especially amid the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s.
