14 DAY TRIAL // Though the name Chely Wright might not ring a bell with those who are not country music fans, what she’s planning to do is almost of historical importance. The 39-year-old country singer will be featured in the upcoming issue of People magazine, with an article in which she’ll be coming out, TMZ informs.
Though the magazine has said nothing in this sense yet, speculation in the blogosphere about who the celebrity coming out might be has been running rampant these past few weeks. TMZ can now confirm that she is Chely Wright, who thus becomes the first country singer ever to come out of the closet. In doing so, she’s literally putting her career on the line because she can’t possibly know how the generally traditional country audience will react to the news.
“TMZ has learned the big ‘coming out’ announcement planned for this week will be... country star Chely Wright. There’s been a big buzz over the last week as to which celeb was announcing he/she was gay... we knew it was going to be unveiled in People mag next week. But now TMZ knows for sure. Wright has a book coming out this week as well – it’s called, ‘Like Me.’ And she has a CD coming out too – called ‘Lifted Off the Ground’,” TMZ writes.
“The 39-year-old singer scored a #1 country song back in 1999 with ‘Single White Female,’ when she was named Academy of Country Music new artist of the year. Wright is the first major country artist ever to come out. She has been romantically linked to a number of celebs, including Brad Paisley. This is a big deal in the country world. Chely is rolling the dice on her career... it’s unclear how traditionally-conservative country fans will react,” the same e-zine further says.
People magazine is still not saying anything on the identity of the one coming out in this week’s issue. However, given that TMZ had excerpts from the Sandra Bullock interview now running in People, chances are it is right on the mark with Chely Wright coming out this week as well.