MAROON 5 SINGER TALKS ABOUT GAY BROTHER

Sexy Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine has opened up about his younger gay brother, Michael, and slammed rumours that American Idol has tried to stop contestants from coming out.

“I can single-handedly dispel any ideas that sexuality is acquired,” a laughing Levine told Out magazine in a new interview. “Trust me, you’re born with it. My brother is gay, and we knew when he was two. We all knew.”

Talking about his own sexuality, the 32-year-old said that “there’s no way to hide my straightness,” but added “if people didn’t think there was a small chance I was gay, then I wouldn’t be doing my job very well. Look at the best ones, guys whose sexuality was always questioned. Bowie. Jagger. Freddie Mercury. I wouldn’t be the front man of a band if that question hadn’t come up at some point.”

Levine, who is also a judge and mentor on the singing talent show The Voice, hit out at American Idol over claims that it has dissuaded gay contestants from being open about their sexuality.

“What’s always pissed me off about Idol is wanting to mask that, for that to go unspoken,” he said. “C’mon. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point? On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives. The fact that The Voice didn’t have any qualms about being completely about it is a great thing.”

Levine, who is in the charts with the single Moves Like Jagger, also revealed that he loves “being as naked as possible all the time — it feels really natural to me”.