Barry Manilow has reflected on his decision to come out later in life, saying that publicly discussing his sexuality earlier in his career “would have killed” it.
The legendary singer opened up about his personal life, his long-term relationship and his recent lung cancer diagnosis during a 27 May interview with the LA Times.
While discussing why he has never been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Manilow said he has never really felt like part of the industry crowd.
“I’ve never been one of the guys,” he told the publication. “I don’t think about awards and parties and stuff like that.”
Instead, Manilow said the greatest recognition in his life has come from his relationship with his husband, music producer Garry Kief.
“I’m very lucky – I live in the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen and I have the most wonderful partner that you can imagine. I’m grateful he’s chosen to share his life with me. We’ve been together for over 46 years, and we still laugh and we still love each other. That’s the greatest award I’ll ever get.”
Manilow married Kief in 2014. Three years later, in 2017, he publicly came out as gay.
When asked whether people viewed him differently after he came out, Manilow said the reaction was “a non-event”.
“I never really hid it”
“Nobody gave a s***,” he said. “They all knew. I never really hid it, but in the 70s and 80s, that would have killed the career, and I didn’t want to do that. So I just never talked about it.”
He added: “Garry and I are just two guys that live in a house on a hill with two dogs that we love.”
The singer also spoke about his recent cancer diagnosis and recovery, revealing that treatment has forced him to take a significant break from performing.
Manilow had to cancel a number of shows while recovering, marking his longest break from touring since the pandemic.
“Since the surgery, I can’t go on the road,” he said. “Ninety minutes of screaming in tune, which is what I do for a living, I’m not up for that yet. I will be, but it’s taking a long time to get my voice back. They warned me that I’d have to learn to breathe again. So these days, I get up, I go to my piano and I try to be creative. Before I know it, the afternoon’s over.”
Manilow said doctors discovered a cancerous tumour on his lungs after he had been dealing with bronchitis.
“When they told me, I was on the road, and I just went back to sound check. What else could I do? I never thought cancer would get me, it wasn’t in the cards,” he recalled.
The singer said doctors wanted to remove the tumour quickly, but he made arrangements to finish a short run of shows first.
“They wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible, so we made a deal: I’d finish the couple of weeks of shows that I had, then I’d go to the hospital and they’d remove it. It was supposed to be a no-brainer — it hadn’t spread yet, thank goodness. But then my AFib kicked in and acid reflux kicked in and pneumonia kicked in. They rushed me to the ICU for seven days.”
Manilow revealed that the situation became extremely serious during his hospital stay.
“They said at one point – I didn’t hear them say this but I heard that they did say it – ‘We don’t want to lose him.’ It’s all a total blur now. When they finally brought me back to my lovely room at the Eisenhower [medical center], I weighed 128 pounds.”
Despite the health scare, Manilow’s reflections on life, love and career make clear that his relationship with Kief remains at the centre of what matters most to him.
For the performer, who has spent decades entertaining audiences around the world, the greatest honour is not a trophy or a hall of fame induction, but the life he has built with his husband.
