American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken has “come out” revealing to the masses that he is in fact gay.

Aiken is  featured on the cover of the latest issue of People magazine, holding his son Parker Foster, along with the headline: “Yes, I’m Gay.”

He is also quoted  saying: “I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things.”

Record producer Jaymes Foster is the mother of his son.

In an earlier interview with the Associated Press in 2006, Aiken just sidestepped the questions about his sexuality: “I don’t really feel like I have anybody to answer to but myself and God and the people I love.”

Aiken finished runner-up  in the 2003 series of American Idol.

Currently he is the most successful male recording artist in the history of the show, and his first album, entitled Measure Of A Man  did sell more then 1 million copies.

Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that he is about to tour some of  Britain’s schools to discuss  gay tolerance.

The Lord Of The Rings star dished it up for Attitude magazine, where he also called on other homosexual men to go back to their former schools to discuss things too.

Sir Ian, 69, said: “It is essential to talk to 12 and 13-year-olds because they absorb what’s thrown at them, whether it be homophobia or tolerance - and we have to make sure it’s positive stuff.

“But there are 30,000 schools. I think this campaign is right - any openly gay person should consider whether they have a duty of contacting their old school and saying ‘You may not know, but I am gay and I was when I was at school and what is your policy with regard to homophobic bullying?’.”

The actor said he was invited to one school by the headmaster, where two of the students had just come out.

“He had no idea. And this was a concerned man. There is a need to make it clear that there are gay kids in school,” he added.

Sir Ian publicly came out as gay on BBC Radio 4 in back in  1988 while dishing his feelings on Margaret Thatcher’s Section 28 legislation, which would have made public promotion of homosexuality a criminal offense.

Britney Spears is selling her Mediterranean-style Beverly Hills mansion. The price: $7.9 million.

The house is in a gated community and has six bedrooms, six-and-a-half bathrooms, a library, maid’s quarters, media room, high ceilings and mosaic tile floors. According to the LA Times, there are also a pool and hot tub in the backyard.

The pop star bought the house in December 2007 for about $7 million. This is the same house helicopters circled to catch a glimpse of Britney’s meltdown in January.

The singer has been seen looking for a new place to call home in the Hidden Hills and Calabasas areas, LA Times reports.

Victoria Beckham has disclosed to the “Sun” that she doesn’t see motherhood in her immediate future.

Beckham, 34, told The Sun that she is far too busy working on other things, including her career as a fashion designer to have another baby.

“I don’t want another baby for two years because I’m working so hard on my fashion business. I haven’t got time.

“Yes we would like another child but it won’t be for a couple of years yet.”

She also put the boots to the rumors that her marriage was on the rocks.

“I love him more now than I did when we first met,” she said. “I know people sometimes don’t want to believe that we are happy but we are. And come on, I couldn’t put on an act. I’m not that good an actress. Have you seen Spiceworld?”

While we think its quite responsible of her to not have a child when she’s too busy to be pregnant or mothering, what does this tell us about the little one already in existence?

Actress Mischa Barton has just returned from a trip that she calls a “life-changing experience”. The trip was to South Africa to promote the work of Save the Children.

“I’m a pretty emotional person and I’m easily moved by things and getting to know those kids and seeing what their life was like and what they have to go through every day.

“Celebrity means a lot of different things. It is good to draw attention to things that matter. There’s a lot of frivolous press out there, but it’s good to have a cause,” she said, speaking to ITN.

Mischa has asked her fans as well as her friends to help her to curb the poverty in Soweto, which is an area that is feeling a heavy blight of poverty and AIDS.

“There’s so much you can do. Since I’ve got back, I’ve had my friends check out the website. You can do everything from donating a little bit of money to knitting a hat,” she said.

With so many DUI”s and violent outbursts from celebs, it’s nice when they take on things besides their own causes isn’t it?

According to Variety, Nicolas Cage has signed on the dotted line to make a brand new supernatural thriller with  director Dominic Sena, who he also collaborated with for Gone in Sixty Seconds.

Season Of The Witch, a supernatural thriller is a movie about knights in the 14th century given the task of transporting a girl suspected of being the witch responsible for spreading the Black Plague.

Bragi Schut Jr. wrote the screenplay for the movie, and it is scheduled to begin production in November in Austria and Hungary.

Their  last collaboration “Gone In 60 Seconds” grossed $237 million at the  box office.