Is Ryan Seacrest gay?

When celebrities make it big, there’s often an air of mystery surrounding their personal life, regardless of how much they bask in the limelight. Some celebs don’t shy away from the paparazzi and enjoy hanging their dirty laundry for all to see, but others are a lot more secretive. And that only makes us all the more intrigued. You might have heard on the grapevine that Pat Sajak was getting replaced as Wheel of Fortune‘s host, but now that the official announcement has been made, we can confirm that Ryan Seacrest, a famous host across television, will be taking over come 2024.

The 48-year-old media personality has served as the co-host on Live with Kelly and Ryan since 2017, and has additionally hosted American Idol, American Top 40, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. In 2006, he became an annual co-host and executive producer of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and, following Clark’s death in 2012, stayed on as host and executive producer. Earlier this year, it was made public that Seacrest would be leaving Live with Kelly and Ryan.

Due to his supposedly flamboyant personality and fashion sense, there has been much speculation over the years whether Seacrest is gay. The large-and-in-charge American from Atlanta, Georgia, had a two-year on-and-off relationship with model Sara Jean Underwood, then began dating actress Julianne Hough in April 2010, then moved on to model Shayna Taylor from 2017 until 2020.

Although Seacrest has only ever dated women and has not opened up publicly about his sexuality, his string of failed romances has sparked rumors that he might be gay. Although it might seem that way, Seacrest has never outed himself as gay, nor has he overtly touched on the subject. Seacrest also has a tendency to make jokes with a seeming gay subtext; he’s also been perceived as having suggestive interactions with co-hosts.

In the last few years, more and more celebrities have been coming out of the closet and advertising their same-sex relationships. That, in turn, has encouraged even more influencers to follow suit. Right now, it’s much less unusual to be gay and out, which goes to show how progressive we have become as a society.

Right now, Seacrest is reportedly dating influencer and model Aubrey Paige Petcosky, so he seems to have put that rumor to bed, but we’ll never know until we know, so to speak.