Former American Idol participant Sanjaya Malakar comes out as Bise*ual

• In a new interview, the contentious singer Sanjay Malakar talks se*uality, Simon Cowell, and more.
• Sanjaya Malakar, one of the most memorable “American Idol” competitors, is talking out about a portion of his life he never revealed with viewers during season six.
• On “The Adam Sank Show” podcast, the 32-year-old said, “I’m bise*ual.”

Malakar’s se*uality was extensively questioned as a 17-year-old reality TV star and music critic in 2007.

“At the time, I did not know, which was why it was so weird for me,” he told Sank.

But even back then, the speculation was nothing new to him.

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“I always got along with theater kids,” he said, thinking back to his childhood. “I always got along with the g*y kids and the girls, so I was like, ‘OK, this is like my people. But I don’t know. Everyone keeps telling me that I am g*y, and I’m like, 7. I don’t even have any attraction to anyone, so why are you telling me this?’”

He pushed back against anyone putting a label on him for years.

“I was exploring my life as a child, and then ‘American Idol’ happened, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, he’s g*y,’” Malakar recalled. “And I was like, ‘OK, well now I have to say no,’ because at this point they’re forcing me to make a decision and define myself.”

It became a complicated topic for him behind the scenes on the show.

“All of my publicists were like, ‘Oh, just tell everyone you’re single. Be ambiguous. No one needs to know anything about anything because you don’t want to lose your fans,’” he said. “And I’m like, ‘OK, but why am I manipulating what I know of myself to figure out what kind of fans I’m going to get? Because I’m still trying to discover who I am.’”

Now he knows his se*uality and career path.

Malakar no longer wants to be a musician (and he no longer wears his signature ponyhawk). Montana pastry chef.

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The acerbic former “American Idol” judge never veiled his distaste of Malakar as a performer.

“I definitely had a quite a bit of verbal abuse from stepdads growing up, so I was really good at letting it kind of wash off my back,” Malakar said of the often-cruel commentary he faced from the “Idol” judges, particularly Cowell.

His worst critic wasn’t Cowell. Malakar had an army of ardent admirers who helped him reach seventh place, but he also experienced wrath for staying in the race so long.

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“More than what Simon said, what was perpetuated online by haters — the people that loved me were so balanced by people that were literally starving themselves until I got cut from the show,” he explained.

He added, “That effect that I had as a child on that many people had way more effect on me than the things that Simon was saying, because it was one person saying something. I was very aware of the fact that he’s being paid to say these things.”

Malakar stated Cowell made peace with him after the show, despite their differences.

“He actually came to me at an after-party after the finale,” Malakar said. “He was like, ‘I just need to say I have so much respect for you in how much grace you took my comments with.’”