"Good things don't end unless they end badly."—Ben from The Bachelorette tells Ashley his feelings after being dumped. Something tells me it won't end any better when he becomes the next Bachelor Jan. 2.
I don't consider myself a nostalgic person. However, since this is the end of the year, I'm forced by tradition to look back on some of the stories we covered in 2011. Just a cursory glance at the list of topics shows how much the world has changed since this column began. Back in 1995, if you talked about a gay man having a little boy, it was invariably a story about Michael Jackson! Yet, the first story of this year was news of Elton John and David Furnish becoming fathers to little Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John. It's a different world, indeed.
There were also celebrity break-ups, which happen even to the gay couples. After months of speculation, George Michael finally confirmed what we all knew—that his long-term relationship with Kenny Goss was kaput. In fact, it ended two years ago. Interestingly, a month after this admission, we discovered that GM had bounced back with hairdresser to the stars Fadi Fawaz, who was previously known by his gay-porn moniker of Isaac Mazar. This news was confirmed by Fadi while George was convalescing from severe community-acquired pneumonia in Vienna ... which sounds far more glamorous than I'm sure it is.
The line between celebrity and the skin trade got blurred more than ever this year. The most notorious case involved Calvin Klein and Nick Gruber. Nick has been somewhat vocal about the on-again/off-again status of their relationship, and it would appear that Calvin and the former gay-for-pay "model" are still together. While the 67-year-old designer has never made any public statement confirming his homosexuality, he did throw the young man quite an elaborate 21st-birthday party at New York's Indochine, and reportedly paid for some extensive plastic surgery. However, somehow I missed telling you about when the twosome turned up at a Halloween costume party. Nick was partially dressed in some sort of military garb. I believe Calvin went as the host from Tales from the Crypt! Naturally, photos of the duo and video of Nick's porn work can be found on our website.
However, even that story paled next to the one regarding the son of soap-opera star Katherine Kelly Lang. Jeremy Skott Snider had done some acting; as a tyke he played his mom's onscreen son on The Bold and the Beautiful. Later he worked as a production assistant. But who could have predicted that he'd emerge as a gay-porn star? For someone who's allegedly never had gay sex, he certainly took to it with aplomb—in fact, it looked like he could have taken a whole bushel of plums! His virginity-losing scene was one of the hottest videos of the year—and certainly people who saw it on BillyMasters.com enjoyed themselves.
Many of you wrote to me lusting after Dustin Zito from The Real World. While the show was still filming, I had reported about his gay-porn work as Spencer on Fratmen and Fratpad. Good thing I did my research prior to the show hitting the air. If not, I might have come up empty-handed. It seems that certain execs at MTV worked overtime to scrub the web of any evidence from Dustin's porn past. So while the video of Zito performing oral sex on another guy mysteriously disappeared from most websites, it remains on BillyMasters.com to this day.
Sometimes the stars align themselves just right for your humble scribe. It was only a day before I was to host the white-carpet arrivals at Jeffrey Sanker's legendary White Party in Palm Springs, Calif., when we discovered that Reichen Lehmkuhl from The A-List: New York had been jerking off online. Reichen was slated to attend the Sanker event and would need to talk to moi. Adding to his trepidation was the fact that we hadn't spoken since a disagreement a few years back. In the end, he had nothing to worry about—as the video on our website proves. I certainly am the last to judge anyone ... especially when they look as good as Reichen. We can all take shots at his shortcomings, but I'd seriously consider giving up an inch (or three) to look like him.
This past year, two books really grabbed my attention for different reasons. Bob Smith's Remembrances of Things I Forgot was one of the most fascinating, provocative and hysterical books of the year. The HardBody Chronicles, by Jake Smith and Luca Barbieri, was the most titillating recounting of the hedonistic circuit party days. Both should be required reading for everyone.
We can't end without remembering a few of the people we lost this past year. Three spring to mind. Arthur Laurents had one last major success with the LuPone-led revival of "Gypsy" on Broadway. He planned to work with Barbra Streisand on a big-screen remake of the musical; his death leaves that project in limbo. Betty Garrett was a tireless champion for the fight against AIDS and really galvanized the LA fundraising scene. She will be sorely missed. But the biggest loss for our community—and the world—was the death of Elizabeth Taylor. Long after her acting career had faded, this eternal beauty proved that her life had more meaning than ever by focusing her energy on AIDS research. When a cure is found, Elizabeth will and should receive much of the credit.
When I'm waiting for the ball to drop, it's definitely time to end yet another column. So, with mixed emotions, I bid farewell to 2011. Also, farewell to our website, www.BillyMasters.com—at least as you know it. We've been working on some changes behind the scenes and they'll be making their debut around New Years, so do check them out. What hasn't changed is my devotion to my readers and their needs. Obviously, I can't personally service each and every one of you (although I'll try). But I am happy to do what I can via e-mail. Drop a note to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before I break all of my New Year's resolutions! So, until next year, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.
