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[OPINION] Is it Okay to Tell Your Friends Secrets? Patti Labelle Speaks out about Luther Vandross

Published

9 years ago

December 15, 2017

Recently Patti LaBelle went on “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen and spoke out about her late great friend, Luther Vandross.

She revealed a few secrets regarding his sexuality that caught a lot of us off guard. “We talked about it,” said LaBelle. “Basically he did not want his mother to be…although she might have known, but he wasn’t going to come out and say this to the world. And he had a lot of lady fans and he told me he just didn’t want to upset the world.”

As ya’ll can see, LaBelle spilled some serious tea! This brings up the whole question of is it okay to tell your friend’s secrets? I personally say no. I know that if one of my friends tell me something in confidence, it will remain in confidence. I stand by this philosophy not only because it is the right thing to do but I know that I want the same treatment reciprocated back to me.

My best friends and I tell each other pretty much any and everything and truthfully speaking I would be slightly terrified to have some of my most personal thoughts shared with people I didn’t share them with myself. You know that spoken rule about “whatever is said in this room stays in this room,” well my friends and I take that so seriously.

Even though there were speculations for many years pertaining to the sexuality of Luther Vandross, it wasn’t really necessary for us to know the truth, especially after all of these years. Regardless of his sexuality, we remember him for the great singer that he was. He never decided to tell the world what may have really been going through his mind and he is owed the respect and courtesy for it to have remained that way.

So, would you tell your friend’s secrets?

Related Topics:feature featured Luther Vandross patti labelle

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OFFICIAL TRAILER RELEASED FOR “CALL ME MICKY,” EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY DOMINIQUE JACKSON

Published

8 hours ago

August 31, 2026

Jimmy Star

**New 22-minute documentary short follows Micky Angelo Petrillo after transitioning at 59, with the acclaimed POSE star helping bring his story to the screen**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — NEW YORK: The official trailer for CALL ME MICKY, a new documentary short Executive Produced by acclaimed POSE star Dominique Jackson and directed by Andrew Rasmussen, has been released on YouTube ahead of the film’s upcoming festival run.

The 22-minute documentary follows Micky Angelo Petrillo, a larger-than-life New Jersey native who transitioned at 59 and is now discovering what comes next.

Rather than presenting transition as the conclusion of Petrillo’s story, CALL ME MICKY focuses on the life unfolding afterward — through Pride celebrations, open mics, friendships, storytelling and Petrillo’s increasingly public embrace of the man he fought decades to become.

Jackson also appears in the film, joining Petrillo for an intimate on-camera conversation about identity, visibility and what it means to finally live openly as yourself.

Internationally recognized for her commanding portrayal of Elektra on FX’s groundbreaking series POSE, Jackson is an actress, model, activist and producer who also served as an Executive Producer of the acclaimed documentary I’M YOUR VENUS, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival.

Petrillo is the author of the memoir Walking the Earth: First as a Woman, Then a Man.

While CALL ME MICKY captures one chapter of Petrillo’s much larger story, the film offers an intimate portrait of a man discovering that becoming yourself is not the ending — it may only be the beginning.