Barry Manilow was finally ready to take a chance when he officially came out in 2017.
After decades of keeping his sexuality private, the music legend, then 73, opened up about being gay in a People magazine cover story.
But Manilow was surprised at the reaction to his revelation — or lack thereof.
“You know, it was a non-event,” the Brooklyn-born singer, 81, exclusively told The Post. “I was kind of insulted. I thought it was gonna be a big deal.
“Oh my God, it was nothing,” he continued. “Nobody said anything about it.”
However, Manilow chalks it up to his fans not really being surprised.
“At that point, they all knew immediately,” he said. “They liked my music, they liked me. And they were happy that I had somebody to come home to.”
That somebody is Garry Kief, Manilow’s husband and manager. In the 2017 People magazine story, the “Can’t Smile Without You” crooner revealed that the couple secretly got married in 2014 after being together since 1978.
“We’d been together for so long and then, you know, we were able to get married, and it was no big deal,” he said.
But Manilow admits that sharing this love story would’ve been a much bigger deal when he was topping the charts with hits such as “Mandy,” “I Write the Songs” and “Looks Like We Made It” in the ’70s.
“You couldn’t come out back then. I didn’t want to. I didn’t care about it,” he said. “All my friends knew. And I think as the years went on, all of my fans knew. But you just didn’t talk about stuff like that back then.”
But Manilow — who played the first of five hometown shows at Radio City Music Hall Wednesday and continues through Sunday — is happy that things have changed for today’s generation of pop stars to come out.
“Well, you can do that now,” he said. “When I started off, you couldn’t. It would ruin your career. You couldn’t even say the word ‘gay.’ ”
It makes it all the more impressive that Manilow and his husband have been together for 47 years.
“You know, Garry’s got his own career, and I’ve got my own career,” he told The Post. “And we respect each other. It’s a great relationship.”
That kind of longevity extends to Manilow’s six-decade career. After getting his start doing jingles and accompanying artists such as Bette Midler on piano, he made his self-titled debut in 1973.
And, although Manilow is launching a farewell arena tour in May, he’ll still perform at his Radio City and Las Vegas residencies.
“I don’t understand why I still can do it. But until I can’t hit that F natural [note] at the end of ‘Even Now,’ I’m going to keep going.”
But instead of hitting the town in New York, he’ll be saving his voice so he can still nail all those notes at Radio City in his 80s.
“They’re rough, five shows in a row,” said Manilow. “So I guess I got to shut up most of the time.”
Content shared from nypost.com.