Yesterday, I told you all about Clay Aiken’s Coming Out party in the October 6 issue of People Magazine. Well we are getting more insight on what has taken the silver-voiced crooner so long to drag himself out of the closet. Here’s Clay’s account of how he disclosed his sexuality to his mother four years ago.

“I started crying in the car,” Clay recalls. “It was dark. I was sitting there, thinking to myself. I don’t know why I started thinking about it … I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out.”

“She started crying,” he says. “She was obviously somewhat stunned. But she was very supportive and very comforting. She still struggles with things quite a bit, but she’s come a long way.”