Reggie Wells lives a very interesting life as Oprah's personal makeup artist—but he says his life has always been unusual. Reggie talks with Gayle about growing up gay in the 1950s and about the book he is writing about his life.
Long before he understood what being homosexual meant, Reggie says he knew he was different. At age 8, Reggie says he remembers getting in trouble with his parents for spending time in a neighbor's garden looking at flowers. "I was completely forced by my parents not to do certain things," he says. "When they would leave home, I felt like a free child. I would put on music and dance on my toes." Reggie says he was called names by kids in the neighborhood and that teachers also noticed that he was different. "The teacher had a problem [with my interests]—my duck, duck, goose became Swan Lake," he says.
Reggie says he isn't writing an autobiography because he's Oprah's friend; rather, he says his life story can help gay boys and their parents. "I think there are children that are going through this and they feel alone, they feel that they don't know who to talk to, especially in that early part of their life," Reggie says.
Revisiting his past has been therapeutic, and while the book is a work in progress, Reggie says he isn't sharing the title. "I have known it for five years," he says. "[But] I cannot say the name [of the book]—you cannot steal my title!"
