Miss Cleo Comes Out...

Remember Miss Cleo? She's the former infomercial psychic with the thick Jamaican accent who was a staple of late-night television from the late 90s through 2002. She decided to come out publicly as a lesbian in the Oct. 10 issue of The Advocate. And lucky me, the magazine assigned me to interview her for the story. I urge everyone to go out and buy a newstand copy of the magazine (Ex-New Jersey Guv Jim McGreevey and his new love are on the cover) or check out an excerpt at: http://www.advocate.com/ (Click onto "Current newstand issue")

But for readers of "Out in Hollywood," here are some selected quotes from my piece:

She was inspired to finally come out publicly by a teenaged godson:
"He and I started talking when he was concerned about coming out. He was 16. When he made the decision, I told him I’d be there to support him 100 percent, and he embraced (coming out) wholeheartedly. It’s a different vibe than when I was his age, being raised Catholic in an all-girl boarding school. But he was afraid of nothing and I thought, ‘I can’t be a hypocrite.’ This boy is going to force me to put my money where my mouth is."

While she is sure it will be quite liberating, she is coming out publicly with some trepidation:
"The reason it’s scary is because in my personal experience, black cultures throughout the world have a more difficult time accepting homosexuality in their family. I have family members who will be shocked, they don’t know. I have some family members who are very, very close to me and they do know. But I’ve been afraid of the wrath,
of the exiling. When I came out to a number of friends in the late 80s, I had a number of friends who turned their back on me and walked away. That was really intense. I really believed they were my friends."

Her first girlfriend was in high school:
"She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was on the swim team. I thought she was the best thing since sliced bread. In the last months of our senior year, we were found out by her father and she was sent to a college out of state. I was heartbroken."

Now 44 and a single mother of two daughters, she wonders about public reaction to her coming out. She still gets a great deal of affection from fans who remember her from the infomercials:
"If I'm standing in line somewhere and I'm talking, someone will whip their head their head around and look at me. People give me mad love sweetheart. They’ll say, "Do you see anything? Where do we find you? When are you coming back? We miss you!’ I get a lot of love."