Billionaire Barry Diller, 83, Comes Out as Gay After 24-Year Marriage to Diane von Furstenberg — And Insists He Enjoyed An Intense Sexual Relationship With Famous Fashion Designer
Diller and von Furstenberg have been married since 2001.
May 6 2025, Published 2:27 p.m. ET
Billionaire media mogul Barry Diller, long the subject of gay rumors, has come out in his new memoir, RadarOnline.com can report.
The 83-year-old, who has been married to fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg for 24 years, insists his love for her is still real.
The media mogul has confirmed in his new memoir he is gay
Diller is a legendary media exec who previously served as CEO of Paramount and helped launch the Fox network. He opens up about his homosexuality in a his new memoir, Who Knew? – a portion of which was reprinted in the New Yorker – and admits his relationship with von Furstenberg is "complex."
"While there have been a good many men in my life, there has only ever been one woman," he writes. "And she didn’t come into my life until I was 33 years old."
Diller and von Furstenberg, 78, met in 1974, separated in 1981, reunited in 1991, and married in 2001. As the businessman puts it, the two "have spent 50 years intertwined with each other in a unique and complete love."
He continues: "I have never questioned my sexuality’s basic authority over my life (I was only afraid of the reaction of others).
"And when my romance with Diane began, I never questioned that its biological imperative was as strong in its heterosexuality as its opposite had been. When it happened, my initial response was 'Who knew?'"
Rumors of his sexuality have dogged him for years.
When the two first married, speculation ran rampant that the union was only a way to dismiss the rumors of his sexuality.
"I'm well aware that this part of my life has caused confusion and lots of speculation," he shares. "A relationship that began with indifference, then exploded into a romance as natural to us as breathing, surprised us and everyone else.
"It really is the miracle of my life."
Diller insists his love for his wife is real.
Still, even after their marriage, the rumors of Diller's sexuality continued. They were only fueled by famed gossip columnist Liz Smith, who once told The Hollywood Reporter that after music head David Geffen, revealed he was gay in 1992, Diller asked her: "Do you think I should come out?"
Smith, who died in 2017 at age 94, responded: "No, Barry, David Geffen needs to come out. He needs a big story or a scandal or a fight to push him in business and make people afraid of him."
She then added: "People are already afraid of you. So what will you gain? And also, you like women."
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In his book, Diller explains that he was "too scared" to come out before, even though he knew his was not a well-kept secret.
"I had so much early career success you might have thought I'd conquered what I saw as the biggest danger in my developing life," he writes. "I’d conquered other phobias, but fear of exposure still had a tyrannical hold on me, so much so that it stunted any chance of my having a fulfilling personal life.
"Instead, I had discovered I could separate myself from anything painful or terrifying by just locking it away, putting it into a distant box, and having to deal with it hopefully never.
"Compartmentalizing these unwanted feelings became so successful that it has both ruled and riled my life ever since."
