“Project Runway\u201d star Tim Gunn has a heartbreaking reason why he hasn\u2019t hooked up in over 40 years.<\/p>\n
Last week on Chelsea Handler\u2019s \u201cDear Chelsea\u201d podcast<\/a>, Gunn explained that a devastating breakup led to his romantic isolation.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were in bed watching \u2018M*A*S*H\u2019 he said to me, \u2018I have no patience for you any longer. I want you to leave,\u2019\u201d Gunn continued. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n To make matters worse, Gunn\u2019s ex was somebody he had worked with.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it wasn\u2019t as though I just would never see him again,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things that he told me that night was that he\u2019d been sleeping with just about everything that walked by, and I had been loyal and faithful to him. He was the only person I\u2019d ever been with.\u201d<\/p>\n Gunn says his self-pity turned to \u201cunbridled anger\u201d because he was worried his ex had given him a \u201cdeath sentence\u201d by potentially exposing him to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.<\/p>\n The 72-year-old added, \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cMaking the Cut\u201d star said celibacy wasn\u2019t easy at first, but he now \u201cwouldn\u2019t have it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n As intense as the heartbreak was, Gunn still found a silver lining.<\/p>\n \u201cThings happen for a reason, and sometimes the reason isn\u2019t revealed at the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Follow us on Instagram @WeArePauseRewind<\/a> for all your pop culture obsessions.<\/p>\n