Adam Lambert Says He Was 'Really Overwhelmed' by American Idol Fame: It 'Was So Fast'

Hanna Flanagan

Adam Lambert’s career found fame after American Idol, but he recently admitted that instant notoriety was bittersweet.

“I was really overwhelmed in the very beginning. American Idol was so fast,” Lambert, 37, said in a candid interview for Billboard’s Pride roundtable discussion with Big Freedia, Tegan Quin, ILoveMakonnen and Hayley Kiyoko.

“All of a sudden I was on magazine covers,” he recalled. “I was dealing with the personal adjustment I had to make, and then on top of it, there was all this energy behind being the gay guy doing it.”

Lambert added, “I knew I was comfortable saying, ‘Yes, I’m gay.’ But educating the masses? I didn’t get into this business to be an educator. I just wanted to wear glitter and sing.“

Mike Coppola/Getty
Mike Coppola/Getty

Lambert previously opened up about his sexuality in his 2009 Rolling Stone cover story, in which he confirmed he is gay: “I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader,” he told the outlet.

“I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,” Lambert said. “I’ve been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.“

In March, the Grammy-nominated singer — who is preparing his fourth studio album — confirmed he’s in a relationship with model Javi Costa Polo.

“LUV U,” the “Feel Something” singer, 37, captioned the photos of the couple.

“I love you,” Polo commented on the post.

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This marked the first public relationship for Lambert since splitting with ex-boyfriend Sauli Koskinen in 2013. Last summer, he told Gay Star News his busy tour schedule has hindered his love life in the past.

“I haven’t been in a relationship for about five years. I’ve been working and traveling quite a bit so dating is temporary and transient,” he said in June 2018. “I’m a multi-dater for now. My inner romantic always hopes that I could meet someone and it would grow into something significant and monogamous.”