Lance Bass shares devastating impact of being closeted: “I don’t know exactly what damage was caused”
A post shared by Lance Bass (@lancebass)In a new interview with TODAY Parents, singer Lance Bass has once again opened up about the unique challenges he faced as a closeted member of the boy band NSYNC and being outed by a reporter in 2006.To protect himself in the beginning of his career, Bass says he created a persona as “the shy one” in the band to keep from talking too much about his personal life.“During big interviews, I wouldn’t speak because I felt people would figure me out,” the 43-year-old recalls. “So I became the quiet one.
That’s the personality that I created so that I wasn’t expected to talk much.”Whenever he was asked out his love live, he gave a canned answer about being too busy touring with NSYNC to focus on a relationship.“I went through a major depression for years, and to this day, I still struggle,” Bass reveals. “Do I have PTSD from hiding a secret for as long as I did?
I don’t know. I don’t know exactly what damage was caused by staying in the closet.”It wasn’t until after NSYNC concluded their final tour in 2002 that Bass says he finally felt free to live a “more authentic life.” In 2006, he was out at a gay bar in P-Town when someone recognized him.“I was waiting on line for the bathroom and this guy recognized me and says, ‘You’re gay?’ And I go, ‘Yeah!’” Bass recalls. “It was the first time I’d told a stranger I was gay and it felt amazing.
It was such a relief.”Unfortunately, the stranger turned out to be a reporter, who said they were going to expose Bass with or without his cooperation.
