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Project Runway alum Tim Gunn revealed that heartbreak led him to become celibate for the last 43 years.
, 72, recalled how a cheating ex-boyfriend drove him to abstain from sex at the age of 29, while appearing on Chelsea Handler's podcast on Thursday.
Gunn thought he was handed a 'death sentence' when he discovered his longtime partner - the only person he had ever been with - was unfaithful during the early days of the AIDS crisis.
'I had a very serious nine-year relationship in Washington, , and I loved this person deeply and would have done anything for him,' he said.
'And I still remember the night that it all ended. We were in bed watching M*A*S*H… and he said to me, "I have no patience for you any longer. I want you to leave."'
'I had my own apartment, but I had been living with him for years, and I left. I had to pull off because I was hyperventilating. I was beside myself with self-flagellation and self-pity, and it was awful.'
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Project Runway alum Tim Gunn, 72, revealed that heartbreak led him to become celibate for the last 43 years; Gunn pictured in 2020
'And this is someone I worked with, so it wasn't as though I just would never see him again. And 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,' Gunn went on.
Gunn said a cheating ex-boyfriend drove him to abstain from sex at the age of 29, while appearing on Chelsea Handler's podcast; Seen with Project Runway host Heidi Klum in 2016
The fashion consultant thought he was handed a 'death sentence' when he found out that his longtime partner was unfaithful during the early days of the AIDS crisis; Gunn seen in 2008
The experience marred any chance of future sexual intimacy for him. '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,' he said; Seen in 2017
During Thursday's podcast, Gunn also revealed he is no longer part of Project Runway because producers 'didn't want him'; Seen with Klum in 2020
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Gunn rose to fame in 2004 when he joined the show as a mentor to aspiring designers, gaining recognition for his supportive manner and iconic catchphrase, 'Make it work'
Gunn said the news was 'devastating' at first. 'But, as I said earlier, things happen for a reason. And I feel extremely lucky to have had 19 seasons of the show. 16 with Heidi. And I have a beautiful Emmy sitting on my kitchen counter. So, no complaints,' he added.
