Lance Bass Stayed Closeted For *NSYNC Bandmates

Jay Leno joked during his Tonight Show monologue on Thursday night, “Former *NSYNC member Lance Bass announced in the new People magazine that he is gay. Isn’t that ironic? All this time we thought he was *NSYNC, turns out he’s a Backstreet Boy. What are the odds? … Lance, we love you, but I gotta do the jokes. I’m sorry. No, he said he held back the information all of these years because he didn’t want to hurt the careers of the other members of *NSYNC. Well, no problem now. … I think he came out at the right time. No. He said he was inspired to come out of the closet after seeing George Michael come out of the bushes. So, apparently, that’s what happened.”

Lance Bass’ Boyfriend Speaks Out

July 27, 2006 - Lance Bass’ boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl, talked exclusively to ‘Access Hollywood’ host Billy Bush about the former *NSYNC star coming out. When asked if bloggers’ speculations about their relationship forced Bass to come out, Lehmkuhl said, “I think through the entire time of being in the closet anyone is going to feel pressures from this or that. You know, obviously from the article, this was the time that Lance decided it was, you know, that he was ready to come out.”

Lehmkuhl added that he and Lance have been following news coverage in wake of his announcement. “Yeah, we’ve seen a few shows and, you know, it’s all very positive,” Lehmkuhl said.