Sometimes it can feel like the world’s media is fixated on the achievements of the under 20s. The careers of those who are beyond the age of 25 don’t seem relevant, well we disagree.
Here are 10 gay and bisexual men whose careers totally bloomed after the age of 40, although some of them were already doing well before that!
Okay so RuPaul was already a star in his twenties, but, during the late 90s and 00s Ru’s career somewhat stalled. However the resurgence of Drag and more importantly, the part that Ru’s show Drag Race has played in giving drag its second wind puts Ru back on top.
Anderson Cooper, News Anchor and Reporter
Although Anderson has always been successful, thanks to his family line, (he’s an heir to the Vanderbilt empire) it wasn’t until he became the news anchor at CNN in 2003 that his star stock took off and he’s become steadily more and more successful since then. He’s now one of the most recognisable faces of news TV.
Bianca Del Rio, Drag Queen
CREDIT: kathclick / Bigstock
Bianca Del Rio / Roy Haylock was actually in his late 30s when his appearance and winning of RuPaul’s Drag Race made him a household name. Since turning 40 Roy and Bianca have been travelling the world performing in countless venues – Bianca even has her very own comedy feature-length movie, Hurricane Bianca.
We tread carefully here, as Giorgio hasn’t come out officially as gay or bisexual, but an interview in Vanity Fair in 2000 shed some light on his sexuality, when he said, “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men”.
Giorgio’s star was late rising. He showcased his first collection in 1975, when he was 41. Giorgio topped our richest list in 2015.
It wasn’t until the 80s that Calvin Klein clothing and the man himself became the fashion king that he is today, after all his company changed the way the world viewed underwear, anyone who has seen those Mark Walberg underwear pictures will know what we’re talking about. Although Calvin had success in his formative years, he was well into his 40s when it was arguably his underwear ranges and fragrances that turned his successes around.
Tim Cook became a household name when he took over the top job at Apple and he was into his 50s. He came out as gay in October 2014, becoming one of the most successful out CEOs in history.
Cyril Nri, Actor
CREDIT: Ben Blackall / Channel 4
Star of Channel 4’s Cucumber in 2015, Cyril, 54, starred in The Bill from 2002 until 2006. His career went astronomical again when he starred in Russell T Davies’ Cucumber making him a household name in the UK. SPOILER: His graphic murder in the show became one of the most talked about moments in queer TV history.
Harvey was known as one of life’s drifters, that is until he decided to go into politics in his mid-40s. Although only in the political arena for a few years before his murder at the age of 48, Harvey’s contribution to the LGBT movement has long been heralded as significant.
Dan Bucatinsky, Actor & TV Producer
In 2005 Dan helped bring The Comeback starring Lisa Kudrow to the world, cementing his position as a go-to producer in television. In 2013 he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his involvement in the hit TV drama Scandal.
Nick Denton Former (Gawker) Editor and Media Owner
Nick Denton, 49, was the founder of Gawker, which was one of the most powerful blog collectives on earth. In 2007 when he was 40 he entered the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of £140m. However, in 2016 Gawker ran into legal troubles and closed.
Sometimes it can feel like the world’s media is fixated on the achievements of the under 20s. The careers of those who are beyond the age of 25 don’t seem relevant, well we disagree.
Here’s 10 gay and bisexual men whose careers took off after the age of 40, although some of them were already doing well before that!
RuPaul
TV star, Drag Queen and Recording Artist
Okay so RuPaul was already a star in his twenties, but, during the late 90s and 00s Ru’s career somewhat stalled. However the resurgence of Drag and more importantly, the part that Ru’s show Drag Race has played in giving drag its second wind puts Ru back on top.
Anderson Cooper
News Anchor and Reporter
Although Anderson has always been successful, thanks to his family, it wasn’t until he became the news anchor at CNN in 2003 that his star stock took off and he’s become steadily more and more successful since then. He’s now one of the most recognisable faces of news TV.
Bianca Del Rio
Drag Queen
Bianca Del Rio / Roy Haylock was actually in his late 30s when his appearance and winning of RuPaul’s Drag Race made him a household name. Since turning 40 Roy and Bianca have been travelling the world performing in countless venues – he even has a film coming out…
Giorgio Armani
Fashion Designer
We tread carefully here, as Giorgio hasn’t come out officially as gay or bisexual, but an interview in Vanity Fair in 2000 shed some light on his sexuality, when he said, “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men”. Giorgio’s star was late rising. He showcased his first collected in 1975, when he was 41. Giorgio topped our 2015 Richest list.
Embed from Getty Images
Calvin Klein
Fashion designer
Fashion DesignerIt wasn’t until the 80s that Calvin Klein clothing and the man himself became the fashion king that it is today, after his company changed the way the world viewed underwear. Although Calvin had success in his formative years, he was well into his 40s when it was arguably his underwear ranges and fragrances that turned his successes around.
Tim Cook became a household name when he took over the top job at Apple and he was into his 50s. He came out as gay in October 2014, becoming one of the most successful out CEOs in history.
Cyril Nri
Actor
Star of Channel 4’s Cucumber in 2015, Cyril, 54, starred in The Bill from 2002 until 2006. His career went astronomical again when he starred in Russell T Davies’ Cucumber making him a household name in the UK. His graphic murder in the showcase became one of the most talked about moments in queer TV history.
Harvey Milk
Politician
Harvey was known as one of life’s drifters, that is until he decided to go into politics in his mid 40s. Although only in the political arena for a few years, before his murder at the age of 48, Harvey’s contribution to the LGBT movement has long been heralded as significant.
Dan Bucatinsky (The Comeback)
TV Producer and Actor
In 2005 Dan helped bring The Comeback starring Lisa Kudrow to the world, cementing his position as a go to producer in television. In 2013 he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his involvement in the hit TV drama Scandal.
Nick Denton, 49, is the founder of Gawker, one of the most powerful blog collectives on earth. In 2007 when he was 40 he entered the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of £140m.
In 2013 we announced our first LGBT Rich list, the top 10 of the world’s richest gay men. This year for the first time we’ve included trans, bisexual and lesbians in the list.
THEGAYUK UK Rich List
Welcome to THEGAYUK LGBT Rich List 2015. For 2015 we’ve included people from the entire LGBT spectrum. People who made the list are from the fashion, entertainment and technology industries.
The fashion industry holds 5 of the highest paid gay or bisexual men in the world, with one topping the list as the richest in the world.
The entertainments also home to a number of people, and includes one billionaire.
The average age of our rich list is 57.7 years old and most likely to be male with 15 of the 20 male.
It is worth noting that someone’s placement on the list doesn’t mean that they have liquid assets amounting to their reported worth. It may include the reported worth of royalities, stocks or other investments.
#20 (joint) Rosie O’Donnell
Industry: Entertainment
Made her money in: Entertainment
Relationship: Single
Age: 53
Nationality: US
Reported worth: $100,000,000
According to Celebrity Net Worth Rosie enjoys a $5 million annual salary, which she earns because of her TV appearances and co-hosting The View.
#20 Megan Ellison
Industry: Entertainment
Made her money from:Film producing
Relationship:Co Habiting with partner
Age: 29
Reportedly worth: $100,000,000
Film producer Megan is the daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison and youngest millionaire on our list. She has gone on to produce critically acclaimed films such as American Hustle, and Zero Dark Thirty
#20 Anderson Cooper
Industry: Entertainment/News
Made his money: Entertainment, inheritance
Relationship:Co-habiting
Age: 48
Nationality: US
Reported Worth: $100,000,000
With an estimated yearly salary of $11m the newly self-outed Cooper is also the son heiress of Gloria Vanderbilt. He has been dating his partner since 2009. He currently hosts Anderson Live. He is joint 18-20th with Rosie O’Donell and Megan Ellison.
#17 George Michael
Industry:Entertainment
Made his music from:Songwriter, singer
Relationship status: Single
Age: 52
Nationality: UK
Reported worth:$175,000,000
According to celebritynetworth.com Mr Michaels, former Wham Man turned super solo star of the 80s and 90s is reportedly worth $175m. He’s sold 100 million records since Wham’s debut single Young Guns (Go For It!)which went to number 3.
George had been in a long term relationship with Kenny Goss, but the couple announced their split in 2011.
The singer and songwriter is reportedly worth $230 from her music royalties and touring. She claimed to be bisexual in an interview with Barbara Walters in 2009. She is in a relationship with Taylor Kinney.
#15 Ellen DeGeneres
Industry: Entertainment
Made her money through: Rights ownership, Television,
Relationship status: Married
Age: 57
Nationality: US
Reported wealth: $330,000,000
The comedian stars in her very own popular chat show and owns her very own version of YouTube, called Ellen Tube. She married Arrested Development‘s Portia De Rossi in 2008.
#14 Elton John
Industry: Entertainment
Made his money from: Songwriter, singer
Relationship status: Married
Age: 68
Nationality: UK
Reported wealth: $370,000,000
The Tiara and Tantrums legendary Rock Star Sir Elton John is pretty much the godfather of the gay world. Is well known for his charity work and for his Elton John Aids Foundation.
#13 Tim Gill
Industry: Technology
Made his money through: Quark
Relationship status: Married
Age: 61
Nationality: US
Reported wealth: $400,000,000
Tim was the founder of Quark, which he started with a $2000 loan from his parents. In 2009 He married his banker partner Scott Miller in Massachusetts. They now live in Denver.
#12 Jann Wenner
Industry: Publishing
Made his money from:Magazine Publisher
Relationship status:Co Habiting with partner
Age: 69
Nationality:US
Reported worth: $700,000,000
In 1967 Wenner started Rolling Stone magazine, today Wenner Media titles include Men’s Journal and US Weekly. He now lives with his model / designer partner Matt Nye raising son Noah and twins Jude and India Rose.
#11 Calvin Klein
CREDIT: bigstock-miromiro
Industry:Fashion
Made is money from:Designer
Relationship status:Single
Age:72
Nationality: US
Reported wealth:$700,000,000
The New York native is famous for his underwear and jeans.
#10 Tim Cook
Industry:Technology
Made his money from:Apple
Relationship status:Single
Age: 54
Nationality:US
Reported wealth:$785,000,000
After becoming the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook’s personal wealth skyrocketed. He came out officially in 2014.
#9 Chris Hughes
Industry:Technology
How he made his money: Facebook
Relationship status:Married
Age:31
Reported wealth: $850,000,000 (2013)
Nationality:US
All the way back in 2003 Chris teamed up with fellow Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg and the rest as they say is history. He lives with his husband Sean Eldridge. TheRichList.org reports that Chris is worth $850m. However he is reported to have 22 million shares in Facebook, which today are worth $87.95 per share putting his worth at: $1.9 billion
#8 Michael Kors
Industry:Fashion
What made him is money: Designer, Retail
Relationship Status:Married
Age:55
Nationality: US
Reported worth:$1 billion
The fashion king started his career when he was just 19, three years later he launched a womenswear line at Bloomingdales, Saks and Neiman Collins just to name a few.
#7 Domenico Dolce
CREDIT: maxoidos/Bigstock
Industry: Fashion
How he made his money:Designer
Relationship Status:Single
Age: 56
Nationality: Italian
Reported wealth: $1,550,000,000
Forbes puts Domenico Dolce’s worth at $1.55 billion along with his business partner Stefano Gabanna. The pair come joint fifth on THEGAYUK Rich List 2015. The pair have caused some controversy over the years with their out spoken comments on gay parenting.
# 7 Stefano Gabbana
CREDIT: maxoidos / BigStock
Industry:Fashion
How he made his money:Designer
Relationship status:Single
Age:52
Nationality:Italian
Reported worth:$1.55 Billion
Forbes puts Stefano Gabbana’s worth at $1.5 billion along with his business partner Domenico Dolce. The self made billionaire made headlines earlier this year when they upset Elton John (also on this list) and thousands of same-sex couples and couples who have children through IVF when he said, “the only family is the traditional one” and that children born through in vitro fertilization were “synthetic”. “The family is not a fad,” Gabbana explained ,”No chemical off springs and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.
#5 Jennifer Pritzker
Industry:Hospitality
How she made her money:Investments
Relationship Status:Single
Age:63
Nationality:US
Reported worth: $1,78 Billion
The world’s only transgender billionaire. In August2013 she announced to the world that she was a woman. She is one of 11 billionaires in the Pritzker Family.
#4 Jon Stryker
Industry: Medicak
What made him his money:Family business
Relationship Status:unknown
Age:
Nationality:US
Reported worth: $1.8
#3 Peter Thiel
Industry: Technology
What made him his money:Paypal, Facebook, Investing
German born Peter Thiel made the bulk of his huge wealth through two well-chosen angel investments namely PayPal of which he was a co-founder and Facebook. He is also a key investor in AIRBNB and online payment company Stripe.
#2 Peter Geffen
Industry:Entertainment
Made his money from:Music and Film producttion
Relationship Status: Single
Age:72
Nationality:US
Reported worth: $6.9Bn
David created Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980 and DGC Records in 1990. He is also one of the three founders of DreamWorks SKG. Out Magazine ranked Geffen in its list of “Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America.” Forbes puts Geffen’s worth at $6.9 Billion, putting him in second place on TheGayUK’s Rich List 2015.
#1 Giorgio Arman
Industry:Fashion
How He Made His Money:Designer / Armani Brand
Relationship Status:Single
Age:80
Nationality: Italian
Reported worth:$780,000,000,000 ($7.8bn)
At a reported worth of $7.8 billion, Mr Armani is one of the richest men in the world. His wealth has come from building his Armani brand, one of the world’s most recognisable luxury fashion brands. He is one of three Italian nationals on this year’s GAYUK Rich List.
In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2004, Giorgio Armani talked about his love for men and women. Forbes puts his worth at $7.8billion
A number of businesses have found themselves at the end of a boycott, or a viral campaign by the gay community and its allies after denying service or discriminating against LGBT customers. Here is just ten of the most high profile that have happened in the last two years.
Asher’s Bakery – Historic ruling on gay cake equality.
The owners of Asher’s Bakery in Northern Ireland, were found to have acted unlawfully in a historic legal case after refusing to make a cake that bore the wording: “Support Gay Marriage.” Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist, took the civil case to court with the support of the Equality Commission. The case became so high profile that Prime Minister David Cameron waded in to comment on his commitment to equality.
Dolce And Gabbana – Don’t talk about gay parents or IVF.
The fashion duo found themselves on the end of a long Twitter storm that did untold damage to their luxury brand.
Speaking to the Italian magazine Panorama, alongside his business partner, Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce said children should be born to a mother and a father, “The only family is a traditional one. I’m not convinced by those I call the chemical children, synthetic babies…They are wombs for hire, semen chosen from a catalogue … psychiatrists are not ready to confront the effects of this experimentation.”
Stefano Gabbana added: “The family is not a fad.”
The designing duo did backtrack on what they had said, but the damage had been done by that point.
Sweet Cakes – No cakes for gays.
Sweet Cakes is a US bakery that was fined $135000 for discriminating against a gay couple. The owners refused to make a wedding cake. The owners went to GoFundMe crowdfunding site to look for donations to pay their fines. After GoFundMe pulled the campaign they started another on ContinueToGive, which saw them raise 3 times the amount they had originally asked for.
Subway – A promo for all couples… Except for gay couples.
A Subway restaurateur from Angers in France displayed a promotion in his window that excluded gay couples because the marriage bill for marriage equality hadn’t officially passed. A spokesperson from Subway said, “The SUBWAY® brand is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment around the world and does not condone discrimination of any kind. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this individual store’s Valentine’s Day promotion in Angers, France. All SUBWAY stores are independently owned and operated. We are working with the owner to reinforce our corporate values and policies.
Armani – Don’t Dress Like A Homosexual.
Giorgio Armani rattled some feathers when in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine he said, “A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual.
“When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme – to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,’ – that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”
Coca Cola – All about the gay marriage, unless it’s not legal…
Coco-Cola the world’s biggest drinks manufacturer was slammed for removing a gay couple segment from the Irish version of the advert. The advert was apparently tweaked to fit where the advert is shown – with the gay couple being shown everywhere in Europe where gay marriage and civil partnerships are currently legal. A spokesperson for the drinks company said:
“The wedding images used in the ad for the UK and in other parts of Europe show two men getting married.
“The reason this was changed for Ireland is while civil partnership for gay people is legal, gay marriage currently is not. We wanted each ad to be relevant and valid for its own market.”
Since the adverts creation Ireland went on to legalise same-sex marriage.
Barilla Pasta – Let them eat another brand
The company which was founded in 1827 and reportedly made €3.9b in revenues in 2010 has came under fire after its chairman Guido Barilla, gave an interview to La Zanzara Radio24, in which he offended many LGBT customers.
He was answering a question regarding the lack of gay families in the company’s advertising. He suggested that gay couples would never be used saying,
‘”Our family is a traditional family,’ he added that he,
“wouldn’t do an ad with a homosexual family not because I disrespect gays – they have their right to do whatever they want without disturbing others – but because I don’t think like them and I think that the family we try to address is anyway a classic family.”
Barilla then went on to suggest that if gay people didn’t like the company’s values, they could ‘eat another brand’.
Since the fallout, Barillo committed to creating an advisory board on diversity and said that advertising campaign would be more inclusive.
Chick-Fil-A Palin in a bun
Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy doesn’t like same-sex marriage and was basically jumped by Sarah Palin in her approval of his message. Cathy tweeted that the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key part of the Defence of Marriage Act is a “sad day for our nation,”then promptly deleted it. In 2012 Sarah Palin went on Twitter to support the chain that many from the LGBT community have boycotted.
Thistles No Double Beds for Gays
In Feb 2013 a gay couple claimed that a receptionist at Thistles hotel in Barbican denied them a pre-booked double room. The reception is alleged to repeatedly ask whether the couple wanted single beds. Nick Hurley and his partner tweeted their disgust saying that the receptionist was homophobic.
Thistle Hotels quickly responded by apologising and stating that they had a zero tolerance policy on discrimination, but not before Nick Hurley’s tweet was retweeted 2642 times
What is it about super-rich fashion mavens who have been more than happy to take our pink pounds (and dollars) to fuel their luxurious lifestyles to then turn around and trot out their rather obnoxious homophobic opinions?
First there was Dolce & Gabbana who riled up Sir Elton John and most of the gay community when they publicly decried gay parenting, and now it’s the turn of billionaire 80-year-old Giorgio Armani to bite the hand that feeds him with his totally unacceptable comments.
Armani told The Sunday Times Magazine:
“A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual.
“When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme – to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,’ – that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”
Really Giorgio? I guess we cannot stop these men who profit from a homosexual sensibility making these public announcements to the media to drum up some publicity for themselves BUT we can stop buying any of his clothing.
Despite never admitting to being gay Armani told Vanity Fair in 2000,
“I have had women in my life. And sometimes men,” he said at the time. “But you know very well that to do this work one must have a free mind.”
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