Adam Lambert Is Openly Gay, Says Kara DioGuardi
By Michael Y. Park

Originally posted Friday May 29, 2009 09:00 AM EDT
Kara DioGuardi and Adam Lambert

Photo by: Robert Pitts / Landov; M Becker / American Idol 2009 / Getty
American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert may want America to keep speculating about his sexuality, but there's at least one person who has no doubt which way the 27-year-old singer swings: judge Kara DioGuardi.

"I don't think that Adam was ever in [the closet]," she says in a chat set to air on The View Friday. "I think he was always openly out."

Her comment came as part of a response to host Barbara Walters, who had asked if Lambert's controversial loss to Kris Allen was influenced by questions about whether Lambert is gay. Lambert has a penchant for eyeliner, nail polish, tight pants and flamboyant hair styles, and has been photographed kissing other men.

"I hope not," DioGuardi answered. "Because we should be judging on talent and viability in the music industry, and they both had that."

In an earlier interview with PEOPLE.com, Lambert said people who worried about whether he preferred men or women romantically needed to "calm down," and that the most important thing was that he was being true to himself.

"You should own who you are and what you're about, and never make apologies for it," he said.