‘Project Runway’ star Tim Gunn had an ‘awful’ reason behind his four decades of celibacy

“Project Runway” star Tim Gunn has a heartbreaking reason why he hasn’t hooked up in over 40 years.

Last week on Chelsea Handler’s “Dear Chelsea” podcast, Gunn explained that a devastating breakup led to his romantic isolation.

“I had a very serious nine-year relationship in Washington D.C., and I loved this person deeply and would have done anything for him. And I still remember the night that it all ended,” he said.

“We were in bed watching ‘M*A*S*H’ he said to me, ‘I have no patience for you any longer. I want you to leave,’” Gunn continued. “I had my own apartment, but I had been living with him for years, and I left. I drove to my apartment on Rock Creek Parkway, and I had to pull off because I was hyperventilating. I was beside myself with self-flagellation and self-pity, and it was awful.”

To make matters worse, Gunn’s ex was somebody he had worked with.

“So it wasn’t as though I just would never see him again,” he said. “One of the things that he told me that night was that he’d been sleeping with just about everything that walked by, and I had been loyal and faithful to him. He was the only person I’d ever been with.”

Gunn says his self-pity turned to “unbridled anger” because he was worried his ex had given him a “death sentence” by potentially exposing him to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The 72-year-old added, “But whenever I was even tempted to engage in something that could become serious with someone, all this would come back like Niagara Falls, and it would just take the desire away.”

The “Making the Cut” star said celibacy wasn’t easy at first, but he now “wouldn’t have it any other way.”

As intense as the heartbreak was, Gunn still found a silver lining.

“Things happen for a reason, and sometimes the reason isn’t revealed at the moment,” he said. “It may not be revealed for days, weeks, or months, or sometimes even years. But had this relationship not fallen apart, I would never have moved to New York. It would never have happened.”

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