Designer Nate Berkus told his father
that his being gay was not a choice he would have made.
Speaking to his former mentor, Oprah
Winfrey, on cabler OWN's Super Soul Sunday, Berkus, 41,
explained that his relationship with his father moved forward when
his dad understood that being gay is not a choice.
“I felt that everything that I had
ever been through in my life kind of rushed to me in that moment to
give me the voice that I needed to say to him, 'Dad, do you trust me?
Do you respect me? I'm your oldest son, do you respect me in
business?' … And he said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'Do you think I'm
smart?' And he said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'Dad, why would I choose to
make my life more difficult? Why would anyone choose to make their
life more difficult?'” Berkus
said.
“The truth of the matter is, is that
being gay is the way that I was born. I believe this to the core of
my being. I would never choose something to make my life
complicated.”
“I said, 'Dad, do you think I would
choose to have this hair? Do you think that I would choose to be
5-9?' I would have been 6-1. Like it's the exact same thing as my
being gay.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
OWN will broadcast the two part
interview, titled Oprah and Nate Berkus: The Things That Matter,
on February 10 and February 17.
(Related: Nate
Berkus: I stayed home for months after partner died.)