Barry Diller talked about opening up in his new memoir on CBS Sunday Morning.
The IAC chairman and former Paramount CEO’s book, Who Knew, is scheduled for publication next week by Simon & Schuster. A critic for Kirkus called the book “highly instructive for would-be tycoons, with plenty of entertaining interludes.” The memoir made headlines last week after New York magazine published an excerpt in which Diller revealed that he had only had relationships with men before meeting his now-wife, fashion mogul Diane von Fürstenberg.
Tracy Smith of CBS News noted that in the preface to his book, Diller writes, “When I was young, I was far too afraid. I'm no longer that. And I'm too old to care.” She asked Diller what he was afraid of.
“I was afraid of secrets being revealed,” Diller replied. “I was afraid of—I thought I didn’t qualify. I [was] just afraid of revealing myself.”
Diller said he first started questioning his sexuality when he was in grade school.
“Eleven or 12 years old, or 13, I got on my bike and I rode down to the Beverly Hills Public Library, and I looked for books on homosexuality,” he said. “Everything I read was, like, horrible. And I got on my bike, and I rode home, and I thought, I’m a condemned person.”
Smith said, “It seems to me like one of the points you're trying to make in the book is that it doesn't have to be a mutually exclusive thing, that you can be in love with Diane and, at the same time, be attracted to men.”
“Yes, I don’t see anything mutually exclusive about that,” Diller said. “Other people may, but I don’t.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
