Clay Aiken Tells
People: "I'm Gay"

American Idol runner-up and Broadway actor Clay Aiken announces he is gay on the cover of People magazine's next issue, out Friday.

Aiken, 29, recently became a father to a baby boy with friend and record producer Jaymes Foster, whom he met while performing on the show that launched his career. His son, Parker Foster Aiken, was born in August.

"I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things," he says, according to the People cover.

Aiken's sexual orientation has been the subject of much tabloid discussion since the musical sensation left American Idol's second season as runner-up to Ruben Studdard. Though members of the press have prodded Aiken with questions about being gay, he has steadfastly refused to reveal his sexual orientation; in 2006 he called Diane Sawyer "rude" on Good Morning America for even asking.

Also in 2006, talk-show host Kelly Ripa caused an uproar when Aiken, who was guest-hosting Live With Regis and Kelly with Ripa, put his hand over her mouth so he could interject in an interview with Dancing With the Stars' Cheryl Burke and Emmitt Smith. Ripa pulled away, saying, "Oh, that's a no-no. I don't know where that hand's been, honey!"

Rosie O'Donnell, then a cohost on The View, said she took offense to the incident. "To me, that's a homophobic remark," O'Donnell said on the show. "If that was a straight man, if that was a cute man, if that was a guy that she didn't question his sexuality, she would have said a different thing."

Ripa countered that Aiken had been shaking hands with people and that it was flu season at the time.

Later that year a Green Beret claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Aiken in the National Enquirer. He later apologized, saying he should not have told his story without Aiken's consent.

Aiken took a leave from absence from his role as Sir Robin in Broadway's Spamalot earlier this year. He will reprise his role from September 19 to January 4.

Out magazine 's Popnography blog posted early this morning about the People cover and the lengthy backstory that led Aiken to come out. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)