Diane von Furstenberg Opens Up About Being Married to a Gay Man After Ex Barry Diller Comes Out

Diane von Furstenberg recently spoke to Variety about her marriage to Barry Diller, who came out as a gay man in his memoir Who Knew, released this year.

Talking about their relationship, Diane said, “He turned out to be my soulmate. I didn’t think of it at first. He was a man about town. I was giving a party for Sue Mengers, and he came. I was interested in being a good friend; I never thought it would be anything else. Then it turned to passion. He was very insistent.”

She shared how their romance began. “He called me the next day, and then we had dinner. And then I went to Paris, and he called me: ‘Why don’t you come to L.A.?’ I made a stop in Montreal. I called the boyfriend I had at the time to tell him I was going to L.A. to meet someone else. Barry came to pick me up. He had a limousine for my luggage. Did he say that in his book?”

Diane explained her support for Barry’s decision to write his memoir and share his story. “Supporting him? What do you mean, supporting him? People see it that way. For me, it’s not that way. I don’t know. Yes, I encouraged him to do that book, and yes, I encouraged him to do the Audible. But for me, the book is not about that. It’s about his life. And of course, with me, he opened immediately. For 50 years, I was the only person he opened to. Then he wrote the book.”

When asked what it means to be a woman married to a gay man, Diane replied simply, “What’s the difference? I don’t understand.” She added, “A lot of women wouldn’t want to be married to a gay man. But it doesn’t change anything. I’m sorry — it’s a stupid question. I married two gay men, OK? I don’t know why, but to me, they’re not gay, so it doesn’t make any difference.”

Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg were married in 2001. Diane is a mother to Prince Alexander von Fürstenberg and Princess Tatiana von Fürstenberg, and Diller owns a significant share of her fashion company.

As of June 2020, Diller’s net worth was estimated at $4.2 billion, and he owns one of the largest private sailing yachts in the world, Eos.

Barry Diller’s sexual orientation has long been a topic of speculation. Sources, including James B. Stewart’s book DisneyWar, noted that he was considered openly gay for much of his adult life.

Diller’s relationship with Diane has been described as warm and genuine. According to New York magazine in 2001, he has also been referred to as bisexual, and he has described his sexuality as fluid in his memoir.

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