Is jon knight gay
New Kids On The Block Singer Jonathan Knight Opens Up About 'Pressure' to Hide His Sexuality
New Kids on the Block's Jonathan Knight is happily married to longtime partner Harley Rodriguez, and is living his life in truth and with joy. However, that freedom and openness wasn't always something he felt was an option.
During a recent episode of the podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass, Knight opened up to Bass and Joey Fatone about his experiences with being essentially forced to keep his sexuality a secret during his band's early years.
"My manager knew I was gay," Knight explained, adding that it wasn't something he hadn't realized. But rather, it was something he felt he couldn't share.
"Did they ever tell you you can't say anything?" Bass asked.
"My manager actually did. He pulled me aside and was prefer, 'If anybody finds out, your career is over. The New Kids' career is over. My career is over,'" Knight recalled. "It was just so much pressure."
"Looking back, that was a lot of pressure to put on somebody who's just trying to figure out the world themselves," he continued, adding that, "As it went along, the accentuate built up and built up and built up.
HGTV’s Jonathan Knight Pens Emotional Message on National Coming Out Day
Before heading to bed on October 11, 2022, HGTV host — and New Kids on the Block member — Jonathan Knight took time to speak up about coming out. The “Farmhouse Fixer” host didn’t want to let National Coming Out Day close without adding his two cents about the importance of authenticity and inclusivity.
Jonathan Knight Offers Encouragement to Those Struggling to Come Out
GettyGettyJonathan Knight in 2018 with then-fiancé Harley Rodriguez
National Coming Out Day was first observed by the Human Rights Campaign in 1988 to commemorate the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights anniversary. The organization says the purpose of the annual observance is to “promote a safe, inclusive and loving nature where LGBTQ+ people can live truthfully, openly and without fear.”
Knight, who confirmed in August that he married his longtime love Harley Rodriguez, took to Twitter at the end of the day writing, “On this #nationalcomingoutday I head to bed knowing the struggles so many tackle . My life changed when I was able to stay my authentic life! Come out
New Kids on the Block member Jonathan Knight is a proud newlywed these days, but he says he felt “a lot of pressure” to camouflage his true self during the first stages of his music career.
Knight, who is lgbtq+, appeared this week on the “Frosted Tips with Lance Bass” podcast, where he shared the painful memory of being told by a manager that his time as a pop singer would be “over” if he addressed his sexuality publicly.
“My manager knew I was gay,” Knight recalled to Bass. “He pulled me aside and he was like: ‘If anybody finds out, then your career’s over, the New Kids’ careers [are] over ... Sony’s gonna miss money.’ It was just so much pressure. Looking support, that was a lot of pressure to put on somebody who is just trying to figure out the world themselves.”
Kevin Mazur via Getty Images
A Boston native, Knight was just 17 when the Modern Kids on the Block released their self-titled debut album in 1986. The boy band ― which includes Knight’s brother Jordan, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood ― became one of MTV’s most popular acts two years later, when their second album, “Hangin’ Tough,” turned out to be a global smash.
The New Kids on the Block disbande
Jonathan Knight: 11 Surprising Facts About The HGTV Star
There aren't too many celebrities whose resumes include performing with one of the world's biggest male child bands, renovating New England farmhouses, and then taking that knowledge to HGTV for a beat TV series. Yet that's been the journey of Jonathan Knight, whose famous mug could be found on countless lunchboxes and T-shirts back in the behind 1980s and early 1990s as one-fifth of the mega-popular boy band, New Kids on the Block, alongside Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood, and his brother, Jordan Knight.
While the group resumed performing in 2008 after a decade-plus hiatus, Knight had meanwhile developed a passion for aged farmhouses in his native Massachusetts, restoring these stately old buildings to their former glory — both for himself and for clients who'd hire him to perform his magic on theirs. Since 2021, Knight has been the host of "Farmhouse Fixer," an HGTV series in which he's joined by interior designer Kristina Crestin to breathe new existence into these structures, some of which are hundreds of years old.
Knight has been a fixture on the pop-culture landscape for so long that his