Clay Aiken is looking back at how coming out publicly as gay in the late aughts affected his career, speculating that the disclosure cost him about half of his audience.Back then it was a big deal, the American Idol alum recently told People. Related Out American Idol singer Clay Aiken announces second bid for Congress Whoever wins the primary is expected to win the general election in the strongly-Democratic district. Aiken, who came in second place in the Fox musical competition shows second season in 2003, eventually came out in a 2008 People cover story after the birth of his son. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today It was the first decision I made as a father, he said at the time. I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasnt raised that way, and Im not going to raise a child to do that.Over a decade and a half later, Aiken told People that he noticed a dramatic decrease in ticket sales for Spamalot the Broadway show in which he was appearing at the time after the 2008 cover story was published.The first four months that I was in [Spamalot], the show was selling out, standing room only, he said. 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.I lost maybe 50 percent of the fan base, he added.But Aiken, whose holiday album Christmas Bells Are Ringing came out late last month, said that hes pleased that we now live in a very different time.A lot of people who come out now end up having boosts in popularity because of it, he said. Thats mind-blowing to me because its the opposite of what happened when I came out. But it means that theres progress and it means that as a country, were headed in the right direction.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.