*NSYNC's Lance Bass is opening up about his coming-out story.
In The Hollywood Reporter's Pride issue, which features an oral history of "How I Came Out in Hollywood," Bass described how he was "scared s---less" about people learning his secret the height of *NSYNC's popularity.
"The bigger we got, the more people are looking into your personal lives," he told the outlet. "I always knew I was gay. Five years old, I knew I was gay, but I also knew that it was something I'd have to hide the rest of my life because my Southern Baptist upbringing told me that."
MORE: Here's why Pixar's new short 'Out' is a coming-out story for everyone"I knew, especially in the year 2000, that if anyone found out that I was gay, *NSYNC's career would be completely over, and these guys would hate me for the rest of my life," he recalled thinking.
But when he finally did come out to his band mates, that isn't what happened.
"The guys are still so pissed that I wasn't able to tell them when we were still a group...they absolutely don't care about me being gay," he said. "The thing that pissed them off the most is they thought that we could've had so much more fun together at the height of *NSYNC. I could've been my real self with them, and they wish they could've had that."
As for what prompted his coming out in 2006, Bass said he was vacationing in Provincetown, Rhode Island, and a random guy recognized him and asked if he was gay. He said yes, not knowing the guy was a reporter.
MORE: ‘Pose’ actor Ryan Jamaal Swain honors activist Bayard Rustin and more LGBTQ iconsWhen his phone started ringing off the hook, Bass said he knew he had to say something, so he arranged to tell his story to People magazine. "It all happened within 48 hours of coming back from that vacation," he recalled. "Talk about a Band-Aid being ripped off very publicly."
Other stars who told their stories to THR include Clay Aiken, Jim Parsons, Rosie O'Donnell and Neil Patrick Harris.
