Celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels says
her recent comments about being openly gay were misunderstood.
Michaels, 40, appears on this month's
cover of Health.
She told the magazine that the “gay
thing” has always been hard for her.
The former The Biggest Loser trainer
was asked whether she has always been comfortable talking about her
sexuality.
“I don’t know that I am
[comfortable talking about being gay] now, to be honest with you,”
Michaels answered. “The gay thing has always been hard for me.
When Heidi and I are out and somebody older asks, ‘Are you
sisters?’ I say, ‘We’re friends.’ I guess it comes from
thinking that they will be shocked or disturbed. Look, I wish I had
some strapping football player husband. It would be such a dream to
be ‘normal’ like that, but I’m just not.”
In a statement to
PEOPLE, Michaels said she was “deeply disheartened and sorry to
hear that members of the gay community” had misunderstood her
comments.
Michaels first publicly talked about
raising daughter Lukensia and son Phoenix with partner Heidi Rhoades
two years ago in a PEOPLE cover story.
“I attempted to shed light on how
hard and scary it can be to be out,” Michaels said of her remarks
to Health. “That gay families get attacked and even small
daily interactions involve others being 'shocked and disturbed' by
the gay lifestyle.”
“I was saying if along the way in my
life that had been a choice I would have made it, but it's not who I
am. Gay is not a choice. If I was ashamed of who I am, I would be
in the closet. Considering my family was on the cover of PEOPLE
magazine, I think I'm pretty far from that,” she added.