Pop Tarts: Reality Stars React to Clay Aiken’s Gay Confession

LOS ANGELES – It has been quite a momentous week for season two "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken, who has come out of the closet and confessed to being gay.

The North Carolina native became a father Aug. 8 through artificial insemination with his record producer and close friend, Jaymes Foster.

But Aiken’s companions in the reality television world seem to be fully supportive of his revelation.

"That’s his business, but good on him," Hugh Hefner told Pop Tarts at the FOX Reality Channel’s REALLY Awards on Wednesday night, with "Celebrity Apprentice" star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth adding that "it was definitely no surprise."

Other stars feel that Clay’s coming out shows how far America has come in terms of accepting everyone for who they truly are.

"Live your life, be free and for those who disapprove, so be it. Be happy —f God made you desire someone of the same sex, then you are entitled to that," "Glam God" host Vivica A. Fox said.

"I was very proud of him as a man to say ‘I’m gay,' especially in the Hollywood industry where you can be blacklisted. But I salute him — we live in the greatest country in the world and I’m so proud of Clay."

But is Aiken likely to suffer any Tinseltown backlash?

"I don’t think it means anything anymore. Look at Ellen and her career, she is one of the most popular personalities in television," talk-show guru Jerry Springer added. "That’s where America has progressed — it’s not telling people who they do and don’t have to be. We all want to be loved, we all want to be accepted and if you can find happiness, then God bless."

But former "American Idol" Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe admitted he wasn’t expecting the news.

"I was surprised, but I was delighted for him," Lythgoe said. "It was a brave thing to do; it must be difficult to hold something like that back inside you."

Even hot-headed TV personality Danny Bonaduce had something to say to Clay.

"My girlfriend and I actually had an argument about this. His fan base is in the Bible belt and he hid the fact that he was gay, which I disapprove of — you should be who you are," Bonaduce told Tarts. "This could destroy him — but he obviously looked at his baby and said, ‘I’m not going to raise this kid in a lie.’ I couldn’t be more proud of the guy, it takes real guts."

Speaking of Bonaduce, we’re proud to announce that this year, he managed to keep his hands in his pockets. At the REALLY Awards last year, Danny made headlines after pummeling "Survivor" star Jonny Fairplay, but it almost looked like it would happen again when Pop Tarts told him on the carpet that Fairplay was just a few feet away.

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"That’s unfortunate, what a bad call. That man jumped on me last year and then had the audacity to press felony charges against me and the district attorney himself threw it out. I might go beat his a— right now, but I want more cameras rolling," Danny fumed loudly. "Last year I didn’t even hit him. Hey Fairplay, be careful, I’m not playing with you this year!"

(Fairplay reacted by raising his hands in defense and saying that he planned to remain as far away from him as possible.)

Brit's Old Attorney Backs Off

Britney Spears' former attorney Stacy Phillips parted ways with the pop princess in June (after just four months) and it has been quite the ongoing ordeal as to how much she should be paid for her services.

According to court filings from August, Phillips wanted a whooping $407,000 and claimed to have written off an addition $125,000, but it seems the high-priced attorney has backed down. Brit's legal posse met in L.A. Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon to discuss how much money everyone was entitled to, and after almost two hours in the chambers, a rep for Philips emerged to say Stacy was "happy to settle" as she did not want to inflict any more stress on Spears.

But Pop Tarts has unearthed some interesting rumors regarding the fallout between Britney, her "cousin" Alli Sims and former "manager" Sam Lutfi. According to an inside source close to Spears, Alli and Lutfi struck up a relationship last year that was reportedly somewhat romantic and at that point, Spears shunned Sims from her life, apparently out of jealousy.

While Sims hasn't managed to achieve too much with her so-called singing career, she's been traveling the world with her very, very close BFF Avril Lavigne, whom she of course met through Britney.

But back to legalities, Tarts has been told by a court insider that Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger settled their long-running custody battle over their daughter, Ireland. However, the case has been sealed and the details are unavailable, although we're told both parties are "happy" with the outcome.

No Bad Blood: Janet Parties With L.A. Reid

Despite parting ways with her record label Island Def Jam earlier this week with claims that they didn’t support her, chairman L.A. Reid and Janet Jackson still came together to celebrate Janet’s longtime beau Jermaine Dupri’s 36th birthday at Tenjune in New York on Tuesday.

Busta Rhymes and Ice-T gave the packed party place impromptu performances while Jackson appeared to be in "good spirits" as she hung out with the likes of Reid, Fabolous and "The Hills" star Whitney Port.

Dennis Quaid Speaks Out About His Twins' Health

Last November, Dennis Quaid's wife Kimberly Buffington gave birth to a beautiful set of twins, but the excitement turned into torment when hospital staff accidentally gave the 12-day-old newborns a dosage of Heparin (a blood thinner) that was 1,000 times the common dosage for infants.

"They (the twins) are doing great, they are 10 and a half months now and are happy and healthy. That’s all we can ask for considering what happened," Quaid told Tarts while promoting his new film "The Express."

Quaid has now created a foundation which he hopes will prevent any more parents from enduring the pain that he had to go through.

"It's all about minimizing the impact of human error in the hospitals. It would play itself out by trying to facilitate bedside bar-coding and electronic record-keeping, which would lower the incidence," he said, adding that they are focused on raising the standard of care by getting the major hospitals to make a commitment in the hope that the smaller centers will follow suit.

And even though the 54-year-old actor plays the role of a real-life college football coach, his ball skills are limited.

"I grew up in Texas, but I was a late bloomer, so I was booed off the football field and that’s how I ended up in the drama room," Quaid added. "But I am Cowboys fan."

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