At 80, The Who Co-Founder Peter Townshend Opens Up About Gay Relationships

At 80 years old, Peter Townshend is talking more openly about his past, which included “a couple of homosexual affairs.”

“I tried them out, and I very much enjoyed them,” The Who co-founder told The Daily Mail. “I’ve made a couple of really close friends that I’m still friendly with today. But it wasn’t what worked for me, sexually speaking – and didn’t fit into my life, somehow.”

Townshend hasn’t always been so open about his sexuality. He denied rumors of being gay after his song “Rough Boys” sparked questions from fans 30 years ago. He claimed that, when talking about his “gay life,” he was talking about “the friends I’ve had who are gay.”

Now, he admits to harboring feelings for certain men, including Mick Jagger.

“I was very sexually attracted to him,” he told Record Collector magazine, “and possibly to a few other people in my life.”

Townshend also said he was attracted to his co-manager, Kit Lambert, who died from a heroin addiction.

“Such an important man in my life that I possibly had secret sexual feelings about,” Townshend said. “But I don’t know that they were expressed. It was more about the fact that in a way there was part of me that longed for him to want me sexually. But he didn’t.”