Tim Gunn recently opened up about his decision to remain celibate for more than four decades during a new podcast appearance. The Project Runway alum explained the circumstances behind choosing this lifestyle and clarified that he “wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Tim Gunn talks about his 4-decade-long celibacy
Tim Gunn, the famed author, academic, and television personality, has been celibate for 43 years now. He opened up about this lifestyle choice during his appearance on the Dear Chelsea podcast, where he also delved into how it started.
When addressing the topic, Gunn joked that the full story could “keep a psychiatrist very busy.” He explained that his celibacy stemmed from a failed nine-year relationship that lasted from the mid-1970s into the early 1980s.
“I loved this person deeply and would have done anything for him, and I still remember the night that it all ended. We were in bed watching M*A*S*H. It was the first run, and he said to me, ‘I have no patience for you any longer. I want you to leave,'” Gunn recalled.
He continued, “I had my own apartment, but I had been living with him for years. And I left. I drove to my apartment on Rock Creek Parkway. And I had to pull off, because I was hyperventilating. I was beside myself with self-flagellation and self-pity, and it was awful.”
Following the breakup, Gunn said he shut down emotionally. “One of the things that he told me that night was that he had been sleeping with just about everything that walked by,” he recalled. “I had been loyal and faithful to him. He was the only person I had ever been with, and this is the advent of AIDS. It’s 1982.”
He said his initial reaction of self-pity turned into “completely unbridled anger, because I thought he may have given me a death sentence. I was tested every six months for 10 years for HIV, and thankfully, I had a clean slate.”
Gunn further explained that in future sexual pursuits, “all this would come back like Niagara Falls, and it would just take the desire away.”
As a result, Gunn chose to remain celibate. He has stated that he would not have it any other way.
