Clay Aiken Discusses Family, Raising a Child and the Future

Sept. 26, 2008 — -- After acknowledging his homosexuality during an interview with "Good Morning America," which aired Thursday, pop star Clay Aiken talked today about how his unconventional family came to be and what he sees when he looks to the future.

Aiken said that the thought of having a child with longtime friend Jaymes Foster by in-vitro fertilization produced laughs at first, before his son, Parker Foster Aiken, came along six weeks ago.

"It's something that we discussed kind of as a joke initially," he said in an interview with Diane Sawyer. "But over the course of a year, we really just decided. It's unconventional, of course. We're not crazy enough to think that it's not unconventional."

Aiken was confident in the ability to raise Parker and unconcerned about any social stigma.

"I grew up in a situation where my mother and my birth father, you know, there was no relationship there," he said. "There are kids who have much worse situations. So two parents who love each other as Jaymes and I do love each other, who love their son, we think that it's just about as healthy as it can get."

Aiken said the couple live together with Parker as much as possible, from Los Angeles to Raleigh, N.C., and New York.

Like any couple, they have their disagreements. Aiken jokes that whoever is "loudest" usually wins any arguments.

They also have plans for Parker.

"When he turns 5 and starts school, it's our goal, it's our plan to have him go to school in North Carolina, to kind of go to the same schools that I went to and be raised in an environment which is interesting," Aiken said.

"I still love it where I'm from," Aiken said of his North Carolina upbringing. "And I love the people of North Carolina and I'm not leaving. I want my son to be raised in the same place because I think -- like I said I have an inordinate amount of hope and I have an amazing amount of faith in Americans and society and the people who I grew up with and everywhere."

When it comes to plans for him and Foster, however, Aiken is happily unsure.

"We are raising children because we love the child and we care about each other and we respect each other. And, you know, one day [Jaymes] may find someone. One day I might. But our priority is [Parker]."

"I don't have all the answers, but nobody really does and we kind of see it that way, you know --I can't predict tomorrow any more than you can or any more than anybody who's married can."

One thing Aiken is sure about is the profound effect Parker has had on him already.

"You know, my mom said when he was born -- she was in the hospital when he was born -- and she looked at me and she said, 'You never thought you could love something like this, did you?' And I was like, 'Wow, I kind of get what people have been saying all along.'"