Barry Manilow came out as gay in 2017 (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Barry Manilow has revealed his fears of his career ending if he were to talk publicly about his sexuality.

The music legend, now 80, came out in 2017, almost three years after he married his husband and manager Garry Kief in a private ceremony.

However, he knew he was gay much, much earlier, even while married to his wife.

‘But the gay thing was, was pretty, pretty strong. It was strong. I couldn’t, I couldn’t deny it,’ he said.

Sadly, the industry and the public ‘was not ready for anyone to come out’.

In a new interview, he revealed that while being gay in 2023 is ‘no big deal’, back in the 1970s it ‘would have killed a career.’

The singer was encouraged not to talk about his sexuality back in the day (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Barry – who has been in a relationship with his manager Garry Kief for 39 years – told CNN’s Chris Wallace that he had ‘never thought’ about the pressure to hide his true self.

He described his decision to come out via People magazine six years ago as ‘a non-event’.

‘Really, Garry, and I’ve been together for so long. You know, it just never dawned on me it’s ever going to come out. But when we got married, it was a big deal,’ he explained.

‘So we did, you know, Gary, actually kind of saved my, my life because as my career exploded, as I said, it was crazy. It was just crazy.

‘And you know, going back to an empty hotel room, you can get into a lot of trouble if you’re alone night after night after night.’

Barry said after meeting Garry, he no longer had to go back to empty hotel rooms, as he ‘had somebody to cry with or to celebrate with.’

Barry was married to a woman for two years, and insists he did love her (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Heartbreakingly, he admitted: ‘I wish that young people don’t have to go back to those hotel rooms by themselves because you get yourself in trouble. I never did. But it was pretty lonely until I met Gary. And then it was fun.’

He has since said the response from his fans to his coming out was a ‘beautiful experience’, despite previously being warned about what the reaction might be and told not to come out.

‘The public was not ready for anybody to come out. And, frankly, it was just too personal,’ he said.

Barry added that he ‘didn’t want to talk about [his] personal life anyway’ but rather focus on his music.

‘But talking about my personal life was just kind of creepy to me. So I never did.’

Prior to his marriage to Garry, Barry was married to Susan Deixler from 1964 until 1966,.

Barry has been in a relationship with Garry Kief for almost 40 years (Picture: Steve Granitz/WireImage)

She was his childhood, whom he insists he did ‘love’.

The couple only stayed together for one year, and the marriage was annulled, but ended over ‘lack of commitment’, rather than him being gay.

Barry described their marriage as ‘very nice’ and ‘great’, but he would be working away a lot, which wasn’t good for either of them since he ‘couldn’t be a proper husband.’

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Barry has been in a relationship with Garry Kief for almost 40 years.