Who is Barry Manilow married to? Garry Kief's age and more explored as singer explains why he didn't come out as gay until his 70s 

Grammy-winning American singer and songwriter Barry Manilow recently appeared on the HBO Max talk show Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace (aired on November 10) where he cleared the air as to why it took him until his 70s to come out as gay.

When host of the show Chris Wallace asked Barry Manilow why it took him so long to publicly embrace his sexuality, the Mandy singer said it was because it simply did not occur to him.

“Really, Garry and I’ve been together for so long. You know, it just never dawned on me it’s ever going to come out. But when we got married, it was a big deal.”

Manilow also added how he was once married to a woman back in the 1960s, before ending up with his husband Garry Kief. The two have been together since 1978 and got married in 2014.

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Barry Manilow's husband Garry Kief is his longtime manager

Barry Manilow met his husband Garry Kief in 1978, when he was already an established singer, while the latter was a TV executive. Soon after their meet, Houston-based Kief became Manilow’s manager and moved to Los Angeles, to be closer to his client-turned-lover, as per Everipedia.

The media source also mentions how the duo tied the knot in April 2014, right after same-sex marriage was legalized in California. The private wedding took place in their Palm Springs home and was made public almost a year later. While they did not get legally married, they did exchange vows and wedding bands, as per Daily Mail.

Now 75 years old, Garry Clayton Kief has been the President and CEO of Stiletto Entertainment Group since 1981. The firm specializes in producing concerts, theatrical productions, and TV shows worldwide. Besides representing Barry Manilow, the company’s clientele also includes the likes of Lorna Luft, Brian Culbertson, Matt Dusk, and the cappella group Straight No Chaser.

Garry Kief is also the President of Barry Manilow Productions, which produces records and albums. Per Everipedia, he is an alumnus of the University of Southern California and was also married to a woman earlier with whom he had a daughter. Manilow is her godfather.

Additionally, Kief became a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation, an organization that funds higher education of male students.

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What Barry Manilow said recently about his sexuality

Now 80 years old, Copacabana singer Barry Manilow officially came out as gay in public during an interview with People in April 2017. Back then he had said that he kept his sexual identity away from the limelight as he feared that it would disappoint his female fan base.

However, in a recent interview with Chris Wallace on the latter’s show Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, Manilow cleared the air saying that he was never in a rush to declare himself as gay, as it was a “non-event” to him.

Moreover, the Can’t Smile Without You crooner also said that despite being gay since his young days, he married his high-school sweetheart Susan Deixler in 1964. However, he eventually left her to pursue his music career in 1966, when he annulled the marriage.

Manilow further clarified that his sexuality had nothing to do with why his first marriage didn’t last and confessed that he “really did love” his wife, even though:

“The gay thing was pretty, pretty strong that… I couldn’t deny it.”

Manilow further added that back in the late 1970s when his relationship with Kief began, he was not comfortable sharing his personal life as “it wasn’t the same as it is today.”

“Now being gay is no big deal. But back in the ’70s, it would have killed a career. And Clive [Davis] kind of told me that in his own way, ‘Don’t do that’.”

The Looks Like We Made It singer also mentioned how being gay was “just too personal” and he did not want to talk about it, and was rather happy “talking about music.”

Interestingly, after coming out in 2017 at the age of 73, Manilow told People that his fans’ support made it a “beautiful experience” and the idea to come out only struck him after getting married to Kief