Diane von Furstenberg is reacting to her husband, Barry Diller, sharing in his recent memoir that he had always been attracted to men before he met her.
The 83-year-old Hollywood mogul, who has been married to von Furstenberg since 2001, released a memoir titled “Who Knew” in March in which he opened up about his sexuality. He wrote in the book, “Yes, I also liked guys, but that was not a conflict with my love for Diane.”
During a new interview with Variety, von Furstenberg, 78, responded to her husband’s comments and discussed their marriage.
Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg attend The 2024 Met Gala.Cindy Ord / Getty Images for The Met Museum
When the reporter asked how she supported her husband after he publicly addressed his sexuality, she pushed back.
“Supporting him? What do you mean, supporting him?” she replied in the interview published Oct. 16. “People see it that way. For me, it’s not that way. I don’t know. Yes, I encouraged him to do that book, and yes, I encouraged him to do the Audible.”
She continued, “But for me, the book is not about that. It’s about his life. And of course, with me, he opened immediately. For 50 years, I was the only person he opened to. Then he wrote the book.”
Von Furstenberg then seemed baffled after she was asked about being married to a gay man.
“What’s the difference? I don’t understand,” she said.
She further explained, “It doesn’t change anything. I’m sorry — it’s a stupid question. I married two gay men, OK? I don’t know why, but to me, they’re not gay, so it doesn’t make any difference.”
Before she tied the knot with Diller, von Furstenberg was previously married to Prince Egon von Fürstenberg, who died in 2004. The two officially divorced in 1983 after marrying in 1969.
When asked about the start of her relationship with Diller, the Belgian fashion icon said their romance was unexpected. “He turned out to be my soulmate. I didn’t think of it at first. He was a man about town,” she recalled. Von Furstenberg said the two met at a party she threw for the late talent manager Sue Mengers.
“I never thought it would be anything else. Then it turned to passion. He was very insistent,” the wrap dress creator shared.
She said he called her the following day and the two had dinner. He later invited her to meet him in Los Angeles and picked her up in a limousine.
Diller also reflected on their relationship in an excerpt from his book published by New York Magazine on May 6. He echoed the sentiment that his wife was initially dismissive of him before they met at the dinner party. “I was instantly bathed in such attention and cozy warmth I couldn’t believe it was the same woman I’d been dismissed by a year earlier,” he said.
Diller added that they later had dinner at her apartment and “afterward, on the same sofa as the night before, we wound around each other, making out like teenagers, something I hadn’t done with a female since I was 16 years old.”
Clothing designer Diane Von Furstenberg lounging intimately with boyfriend, media mogul Barry Diller, at Studio 54.Robin Platzer / Getty Images
He recalled feeling pure excitement and was confused about what it meant.
They went on to date for a few years before splitting in 1981. They reconciled after von Furstenberg had an affair with Richard Gere, Diller revealed in the memoir.
“I’ve lived for decades reading about Diane and me: about us being best friends rather than lovers,” Diller said in his book. “We weren’t just friends. We aren’t just friends. Plain and simple, it was an explosion of passion that kept up for years. And, yes, I also liked guys, but that was not a conflict with my love for Diane.”
A couple weeks after the excerpt was released, Diller shared more details about the book during a CNBC interview that aired on TODAY on May 20.
He rejected the notion that he had been in the closet for decades.
“All this closet stuff, I mean, if I have been in a closet, it has been the most brightly lit closet with a glass door that you have ever seen,” Diller said at the time. “I understand, kind of, the catnip of media — but all this stuff about my sexuality at my frigging age just seems to me, well, it’s kind of obvious and over the top.”
