Diva Patti LaBelle appeared on a recent airing of Andy Cohen’s ‘Watch What Happens Live’ along with British pop sensation Sam Smith and was quizzed about the ‘closet-battle’ of her late friend and R&B legend Luther Vandross.
Answering Cohen’s question about Vandross’ alleged fight revolving around his rumored sexual orientation, the 73 year old songstress, dished on how her friend, “struggled with the idea of coming out to the public.”
Miss LaBelle told how the ‘Never Too Much’ singer was worried about upsetting not just his mother but also several of her fans – which in a way, continued to keep him in the closet.
“We talked about it. Basically, he didn’t want his mother to be [upset]…although she might’ve known, but he wasn’t gonna come out and say this to the world. And he had a lot of lady fans and he told me that just didn’t wanna upset the world.”
“It was hard for him,” LaBelle said.
Watch the entire segment with the classic songstress, in which she also had a firm advice for her goddaughter – Mariah Carey:
Thoughts?