NKOTB's Jonathan Knight Says He Was Told Not to Come Out or His Career Would Be 'Over': 'So Much Pressure'

Jonathan Knight is reflecting on the ways in which he felt immense "pressure" to stay in the closet while at the height of his New Kids on the Block fame.

The singer, 54, opened up about his experiences being a young gay star on the Frosted Tips with Lance Bass podcast, and said he was told by his manager that revealing his sexuality would have a negative impact on his career.

"CBS [Records] never [told me not to say anything, but] my manager actually did," he recalled. "He pulled me aside and he was like, 'If anybody finds out, then your career is over, the New Kids career is over… Sony's gonna lose money.' It was just so much pressure and looking back, that's a lot of pressure to put on somebody who is just trying to figure out the world themselves."

Knight rose to fame in the late 1980s as a member of the Boston-bred band, which also includes his younger brother Jordan, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood.

Prior to the group's split in 1994 — they have since reunited — Knight told Bass that he rarely hooked up with people on the road, and remembered being "so afraid… like what if somebody sees?"

"My manager knew I was gay and he would always conveniently have another kid that was gay around, so a few I hooked up with," he explained.

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Ethan Miller/Getty Jonathan Knight

Knight said that keeping his sexuality a secret made him prone to anxiety — but all was blown open in 2009, when he was outed by a former boyfriend who sold photos of the pair to the National Enquirer.

The star said that at the time, he was out to his bandmates, but not to the rest of the world. He had recently started dating Harley Rodriguez, whom he has since married.

"I didn't want to [come out]. I was just living my life. My brothers and sisters didn't say, 'Hey Mom and Dad, we're straight.' It wasn't something I was hiding," he said. "I mean, I was with Harley. We'd be kissing in public and it just was what it was. And then it was like, no, you have to make a statement, you have to publicly clear the air."

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Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Jonathan Knight in 1990

Knight said the process of coming out publicly was "horrible," and that he looked to Bass's journey as a blueprint — but not necessarily one he wanted to follow. The former *NSYNC star came out on the cover of PEOPLE in 2006.

"I looked at what you did, Lance, and I actually think in my coming out statement I was like, 'I didn't know I had to be on the cover of a magazine,'" he said.

Still, Knight said he appreciates the ways in which the industry has become more accepting of gay stars, and that now, people accepting awards will often thank their significant others "and nobody flinches."

Knight and Rodriguez were engaged in 2016, and he revealed in August that they have since tied the knot.