In September 2003, Palahniuk was interviewed by Karen Valby, a reporter forĀ Entertainment Weekly. During the interview, in confidence, Palahniuk mentioned information pertaining to his partner. It previously had been believed by many that he was married to a woman (some members of the press had claimed he had a wife), but in fact, Palahniuk had been living with his boyfriend. Some time later, Palahniuk came to believe that Valby was going to print this information in her article, without his consent. In response, he made an angry audio recording and put it on his web site, not only revealing that he wasĀ gay, but also making negative comments about Valby and a member of her family. Palahniuk's fears turned out to be incorrect, however, and Valby's article did not reveal anything about his personal life outside of the fact that he was unmarried. The recording was later removed from the web site, making some fans believe that Palahniuk was embarrassed by his homosexuality. According to Dennis Widmyer, the site's webmaster, the recording was not removed because of the statements regarding his sexuality, but because of the negative statements about Valby. Palahniuk later posted a new recording to his site, asking his fans not to overreact to these events. He also apologized for his behavior, claiming that he wished he had not recorded the message.[12]Ā Palahniuk is now openly gay and according to a profile and interview inĀ The AdvocateĀ in May 2008, he and his unnamed male partner, live in "a former church compound outsideĀ Vancouver, Washington."[13][14]Ā He and his partner have been together for over twenty years, having met while Palahniuk was working at Freightliner. He told one interviewer: "We both had these very blue-collar lives, and now our lives are completely different."[15]
