Patti LaBelle visited Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday, and during the aftershow, she discussed why her friend singer Luther Vandross never came out. Vandross, who died in 2005, never publicly commented on his sexual orientation. LaBelle explained his decision, saying, “We talked about it. Basically, he did not want his mother to be… although she might have known, but he wasn’t going to come out and say this to the world.”

Vandross’s career, with songs like “Power of Love/Love Power,” “Here and Now,” and “Don’t Want to Be a Fool,” was at its peak in the 1980s. LaBelle shared that Vandross struggled with hiding his sexuality, saying, “He had a lot of lady fans, and he told me that he just didn’t want to upset the world. … But it was hard for him.”

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