Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Lance Bass’ boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl, talks exclusively to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush about Bass’ coming out and his book "Here’s What We’ll Say: A Memoir of Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force." On Thursday afternoon, Lehmkuhl told Bush, "I will say that Lance is happier than he has ever been. It has been a long ride and it’s a huge relief and I couldn’t be happier for him and I couldn’t be more proud of him."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."When asked if he is concerned about Bass’ career, Lehmkuhl said, "No, not at all. I think it is always best in your career to be honest…He is going to have more support and more happiness and more freedom than he has ever had before and it is going to be a liberating experience. I guarantee it." In discussing public reaction to Bass’ admission and whether or not the couple has been following the coverage, Lehmkuhl told Bush, "Yeah, we’ve seen a few shows and, you know, it’s all very positive." In regards to the timing of his book’s release and Bass’ coming out, Lehmkuhl said, "I have been thinking about writing this book for over ten years. Lance and I have a very new relationship here. Is Lance supportive of the book and excited about it, ‘yes.’ Did he prompt me to write it or prompt me to put it out, ‘no.’ Did I have a contract that the book was going to come out October 1 of this year before I even met Lance, ‘yes.’"

Access Hollywood 

Bass no longer feels compelled to hide his private life to protect his bandmates, since the band has been on hiatus for four years. When ‘NSYNC were in full swing, he worried that coming out would hurt the band. "I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ‘NSYNC?" he told People. "So I had that weight on me of, like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it’s bad.’ So I just never did … I had four other guys’ careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said [that I was gay], it would overpower everything."Bass said he’s known that he’s gay for his "whole life … from childhood on," but struggled because he knew it would be "something that I would have to hide my whole life." Bass hid it from his bandmates — who suspected anyway "because we were like brothers," he said, and they wondered, " ‘Why aren’t you hitting on women all the time and acting like a rock star?’ Because I was a good Christian boy, that’s why."Their suspicions were also complicated by the fact that Bass was dating women until he was 22 (he’s now 27). "I’ve definitely, you know, been with women," Bass said. "And I’ve had great relationships with them where I was definitely in love. It’s just I grew to a point where deep inside I knew that I could never truly have a relationship with a woman. I don’t know if they ever suspected. It was never brought up.""He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone," Joey Fatone told People. "I back him up 100 percent.""I’ve know Lance for more than 10 years," JC Chasez told MTV News. "We have been through so much together. He is family and I support him unconditionally."Fatone was the first ‘NSYNC bandmate Bass told about being gay, after Fatone walked in on Bass and a male date at his house in Orlando, Florida. Fatone’s response at the time? "Dude, I don’t care," Bass recalled him saying. Chris Kirkpatrick found out last summer and JC Chasez three months ago. "Very few people have the guts to come up to you and say, ‘Hey, are you gay?’ " Bass said. "I’m pretty sure they all knew and they probably all talked to each other, but they had the respect to let me tell them. I haven’t had the conversation with Justin [Timberlake] yet. I know he knows, but I’ve never really sat him down and said it." I will be calling him.""Lance is one of my great friends," Timberlake told MTV News Wednesday (July 26). "I support him and wish him all the happiness in the world."Telling his bandmates has been easy, but telling his family was another matter. His sister became pale and started crying when he told her, while his mother "broke down." "The worst part about it was my mom found out not from me," Bass said. "She found out on the Internet, and that’s what just killed me. … It destroyed her for a little bit." His father, in the meantime, was concerned about diseases, telling Lance that "It’s much easier for gay people to get AIDS," and "Statistics show that these relationships don’t last. You know it’s not going to last." "I was like, ‘Dad, wow!’ "In Bass’ hometown of Clinton, Mississippi, where his mother is a middle-school teacher and his father works in real estate, being gay is "not looked at very highly," he said. But as worried as he was that his grandparents would take it even worse, his maternal grandmother, who was told last week, handled it "so well," he says. "She was like, ‘You know what? I may not agree with it, but I love you just the same and you’re welcome in my house anytime.’ "For now, Bass and Lehmkuhl are "taking it one day at a time," since the relationship is only a few months old. They met because Lehmkuhl was Bass’ real-estate agent, and the two became friends, then lovers. "This is a huge turning point in my life and also in his life too," Bass said. Eventually, Bass would like to have a family and hopes to have his own kids as well as adopt. "I want people to take away from this that being gay is a norm," Bass said. "That the stereotypes are out the window … I’ve met so many people like me that it’s really encouraged me. I call them the SAGs — the straight-acting gays. We’re just normal, typical guys. I love to watch football and drink beer." And if people ask him now if he’s gay, Bass said he plans to respond, "No, I’m also gay." Meaning that it won’t define him — just the part of himself that he doesn’t have to hide anymore.

VH1 

Lance Bass, the former ‘N Sync heartthrob, reveals that he is gay, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. "I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys’ careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake. "I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ’N Sync? So I had that weight on me of like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it’s bad.’ So I just never did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE. Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred, Southern Baptist-reared Bass, 27, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then his shocked family. "He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone," says his close buddy Fatone, 29, who was the first ‘N Sync bandmate to find out Bass is gay. "I back him up 100 percent." Adds Bass’s longtime pal, actress Christina Applegate: "I’ve always accepted him as who he is. It’s about his own serenity at this point." Having pursued acting, producing and – most memorably – space flight after ’N Sync went on hiatus in 2002, Bass now is looking ahead to new beginnings. He is in a "very stable" relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl, 32, and is developing an Odd Couple-inspired sitcom pilot with Fatone in which his character will be gay. Mostly, though, he’s just enjoying the relief that comes with the culmination of a long, at times emotionally fraught journey. "The thing is, I’m not ashamed – that’s the one thing I want to say," he explains of his decision to come out. "I don’t think it’s wrong, I’m not devastated going through this. I’m more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole life. I’m just happy." As for why he’s talking about this now Bass says, "The main reason I wanted to speak my mind was that (the rumors) really were starting to affect my daily life. Now it feels like it’s on my terms. I’m at peace with my family, my friends, myself and God so there’s really nothing else that I worry about."

People

Good for him! 

The best question last night was something like this;

Paris Hilton is considering doing CBS’s Survivor, but she is not sure she can go 39 days without ________ing. Fill in the blank.

Lance Bass said bathing and did not match with the majority answer of shopping. But Adrianne Knight came closest to what I was thinking…sex taping.

What do you thing the blank is?

To the person who made the comment…I will add, yes she is and Ricki Lake needed to treat Betty White with more respect and not have ignore her when Lance lost! Betty White is the woman!
Tune in to (hopefully the season and not series) finale of Gameshow Marathon next week as Brande Roderick and Kathy Najimy play the Family Feud!

Betty is one of the celebrity panelists during the second semi-final round tonight as LANCE BASS and KATHY NAJIMY compete in a nostalgic revival of the classic game show "Match Game."

We caught up with the beloved "Golden Girls" star backstage, and Betty set the record straight on a few lingering Hollywood rumors!

"I was a semi-regular on the original ‘Match Game,’" she told ET. During that original run, Betty says she "heard that [people] thought we drank during the breaks," because of their crazy antics during game play. "We never drank," she says. "We were just nuts."

She also had plenty to say about her former co-stars, BEA ARTHUR, RUE McCLANAHAN and ESTELLE GETTY.

Betty told us there are no plans for a reunion show, even though it’s a very common request. "Bea doesn’t want to do that, [saying] ‘Let’s quit while we’re ahead.’" But the one-time castmates still share a close bond. "We talk on the phone maybe every three or four weeks," she adds. "Of course with the DVDs coming out we get to see each other. I wish I could say Estelle was always with us [but] she’s not feeling so good. We talk on the phone, on a good day." Estelle’s health has been in decline due to Alzheimer’s.

A common misconception, however, is that Estelle was the youngest member of the show. "That’s a rumor she started," Betty says with a laugh. "Rue was the youngest, but Estelle thought that was a wonderful rumor to start."

And it seems Estelle had a little help keeping up her youthful appearance, according to Betty. "She came back after the first hiatus and she’d had a face lift — here they had to make her up as an older woman with all the lines, and they couldn’t even find the lines!"

Entertainment Tonight 

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