Clay Aiken Opens Up About Losing '50 Percent' Of His Fans After Coming Out In 2008

Clay Aiken, the singer who got his start as the runner-up in the second season of American Idol, is back.

As part of his deliberate return to the music scene after a hiatus that involved multiple political runs in his home state of North Carolina, Aiken talked with People about how his career was impacted by his 2008 coming out during an interview about the birth of his son Parker.

Aiken said that he was able to see the immediate impact of his coming out in plummeting ticket sales to Spamalot!, a musical that he was in at the time.

The singer told People:

“The first four months that I was in, the show was selling out, standing room only. You can actually look at the ticket sales the week after that cover came out.”

"It went from selling very well to the week after the cover came out, the ticket sales dropped. ‘Spamalot’ ended up closing a few months after that.”

Aiken's burgeoning musical career came to a screeching halt, and he chose to pursue other areas of interest, including politics.

Now, Aiken has recently released an album of holiday songs called Christmas Bells are Ringing.

While remaining justifiably disappointed by the public's reaction in 2008, he said he had hope for artists of today.

“A lot of people who come out now end up having boosts in popularity because of it ... That’s mind-blowing to me because it’s the opposite of what happened when I came out.”

"But it means that there’s progress and it means that as a country, we’re headed in the right direction.”

A lot of folks pointed out that it wasn't exactly a surprise when he came out in 2008.

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Other people had harsh criticism for those folks.

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Fans recognized that Aiken's career suffered after he came out.

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And they had thoughts about the fans he lost along the way.

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People sang praises for Aiken's voice, which is what won him so many fans in the first place.

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Aiken recently talked to ABC News’ Phil Lipof about this new chapter in his music career.

And fans are excited for Aiken's return.

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Here's hoping Aiken's comeback will bring him everything he deserves.