Father's Day

Clay Aiken

October 2008

Becoming a father led to another life-changing decision for Clay Aiken, 29, the American Idol runner-up whose awkward charm, flat-ironed red hair and soulful sound inspired a curious and deeply devoted cult of music fans who call themselves Claymates. Long dogged by rumors about his sexuality, Aiken decided the time had come for him to publicly acknowledge what he's known privately since he was in college: He's gay.

Says Aiken: "It was the first decision I made as a father. I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."



Ricky Martin

December 2008

"I’m going to concentrate on becoming a better, stronger, more complete person. All throughout my career — a career I’ve pursued since I was twelve — I have had to make sure to please people and ensure that people were happy with the things I was doing. At this moment, though, I’m focusing on what makes me happy. My sons are happy and they’re going to grow up being sure of themselves. When they ask a question, they will always receive an answer given with the utmost honesty and sincerity. They’re not going to feel ‘different,’ because there are hundreds — thousands — of children all over the world who are raised solely by their mothers or only by their fathers. I’m choosing to focus on the light, not the dark.

I always knew a wanted to be a father. I have such happy childhood memories of my own dad, and I thought it was important to share that kind of love with children of my own.

I felt a real need to see myself reflecting in my children’s eyes, that’s why I decided to go with a surrogate. It was the best option for me at this point in my life. There are people who think that science and medicine don’t go with God, but I see art and God’s hand in each and every one of my sons’ movements, in each smile and every cry. This whole process has been a spiritual one for me. Becoming a parent has been a blessing."

March 29, 2010

If someone asked me today, "Ricky, what are you afraid of?" I would answer "the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war...child slavery, terrorism...the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith." But fear of my truth? Not at all! On the contrary, It fills me with strength and courage. This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids were born with.


Sources: Clay Aiken People Magazine Article Full Scans, More Ricky Martin twins bb pictures! HOLA! magazine spread, RickyMartinMusic.com

Nobody's Business But Ours

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the busiest actors in Hollywood, so when you get some face time with him — it doesn’t matter who you are — you take it.

***

We had only another 10 minutes, and there were some things I needed to talk to him about. For starters, Jake has rarely talked publicly about Heath Ledger’s death. I wasn’t sure if I’d get anything out of him, but I had to ask.

“A year ago, Entertainment Weekly spoke to a lot of people for a piece about Heath Ledger. The screenwriter, producer and cinematographer of Brokeback Mountain all talked. You were conspicuously absent. Are you uncomfortable remembering him in public?”

“Yes,” he said, pausing. “Brokeback was painful. Any time you go into pain, I don’t think you necessarily want to go back. But the results of that film, and how the public responded to it so hugely, were worth it. Walking through any kind of pain is usually worth it. As close as we all became making that movie, for all those other people, it didn’t extend much farther than [the movie itself], so that experience of work could be easily talked about for publications. The experience Heath and I had was also shared publicly with all the press and publicity we did. But what we shared as friends, though I respect the interest that so many people have in the mourning and grieving process and how it feels to other people, I feel like — and I don’t mean this in an unkind way — but I don’t think it’s anybody’s business but his and mine. So in that sense, to really respect him — and also the way he felt about his life and his private life and what he cared about, because he was a deeply caring and loving human being — every time anybody asks me any question about him, it would be like he was sitting next to me, and I know he would roll his eyes, because that’s the way he was. It was between us.”

If we didn’t talk about anything else, I knew I had something of consequence. And I was confident that what Jake had just said was as far and as deep and as sincere as he could go with this — you could feel the anguish in his words. So I moved on.


Source: American Way, 20 Minutes with the Prince of Persia by Lawrence Grobel, June 1, 2010