Breaking news : American Idol' runner-up Clay Aiken is GAY??

Breaking news : American Idol' runner-up Clay Aiken is GAY??

Clay Aiken (born Clayton Holmes Grissom on November 30, 1978) is an American pop singer who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. Based on album sales surpassed only by Idol winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, Aiken has become the most successful male and the most successful runner-up in that show's history.

After years of dodging rumors and speculation, in a PEOPLE exclusive the former 'American Idol' runner-up gives his Ellen-inspired admission: 'Yes, I'm Gay.'

"It was the first decision I made as a father," says Aiken, 29, who recently had a child through a surrogate mother. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."

Aiken says he knows his newborn son will have a lot to process and interpret once he grows up. ""Whether it be having a child out of wedlock, or whether it be simply being a homosexual, it's going to be a lot," he told PEOPLE. "I have no idea if he'll be gay or straight. It's not something I'll have anything to do with, or that he'll have anything to do with. It's already probably up inside the code there ... No matter what the situation you're in, if you're raised in a loving environment, that's the most important thing."

Aiken also tells PEOPLE about how he actually broke the news to his mother.

"I started crying in the car. It was dark. I was sitting there, thinking to myself. I don't know why I started thinking about it ... I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out," he says.

Aiken wasn't the first celebrity to come out on Tuesday. After months of speculation, actress Lindsay Lohan finally divulged that she is dating DJ Samantha Ronson.

Aiken had lashed out at Diane Sawyer during an interview just over two years ago when she asked about rumors of his sexuality.

"At some point it becomes really rude," he said to Sawyer. "I don't understand why you want to know. I don't know why it's any of your business."

Aiken had also said constant questioning of his sexuality in the tabloids had affected him deeply.

"Even though stuff about me that I read in the magazines isn't true, it still makes me lose sleep," he said. "I hurt, not just for my mother who has to watch it happen and who hurts for me. At least when I was in middle school … I understand why they picked on me."

Aiken had also refused to come out of the closet to PEOPLE magazine in an interview done the same week as his sit-down with Sawyer.

"What do you say? It's like when I was 8. I remember something would get broken in the house, and Mom and Dad would call me in and say, 'Did you do this?' Well, it didn't matter what I said. The only thing they would believe was yes. People are going to believe what they want."

Breaking news : American Idol' runner-up Clay Aiken is GAY??