In a new interview, Jonathan Knight
revealed that he remained closeted to protect New Kids on the Block.
Speaking with NSYNC stars Joey Fatone
and Lance Bass on the Frosted Lips with Lance Bass podcast,
Knight said that he feared coming out gay would end the boy band.
Knight said that keeping his sexuality
a secret was “so much pressure” and that his manager had asked
him to keep quiet.
“He pulled me aside and was like, 'If
anybody finds out, your career is over. The New Kids' career is over.
My career is over,'” Knight
said, adding that the stress left him feeling like he was having
a nervous breakdown.
Knight said that even as rumors about
his sexuality circulated, he didn't want to publicly come out as gay.
“I didn't want to,” he said. “I
was just living my life … It wasn't something I was hiding. But
then it was like, 'No you have to make a statement. You have to clear
the air.' And that whole process was horrible.”
After his ex-boyfriend Kyle Wilker in
2009 outed him, Knight wrote in a blog post that he has “never
hidden the fact that I am gay.”
Knight, the host of HGTV's Farmhouse
Fixer, is married to Harley Rodriguez.