Following the news that Star Jones is engaged and set to marry, her ex-husband, Al Reynolds, has come out as bisexual after years of rumors. The former investment banker, who was married to the TV personality from 2004 to 2008, broke the news in a lengthy statement to RadarOnline on Thursday.
“Ever since I have been in the public eye, people have been speculating on my sexuality. And ‘speculating’ is a kind word for how it actually played out. With anger and disdain, people have been calling me out as gay, closeted, a sham and even nastier; much nastier,” Reynolds began his post.
“I have come to a point in my life where I am ready to discuss my truth. I wasn’t ready to do this then — I wasn’t even ready to think about it, let alone process it. To understand my journey and how I got to this point, you need to understand a little about me,” he continued.
Reynolds explained that he is the youngest of six children and was raised in a devout Southern Baptist Family. “It was clear and proscribed, black and white, angels or sinners. And people who were intimate with others of their own gender were the worst of all with no chance of redemption, or the glorious afterlife that I was taught awaited us all,” he wrote.
He was candid in sharing that he faced a period of “tough times” in his life, which included “homelessness, unemployment, dependence on drugs and alcohol, public assistance, and, at the center of it all, a deep, deep shame and a feeling of unworthiness of the love of God. I didn’t believe I deserved to live a good life, and I clearly didn’t.”