Billy Porter on his new boyfriend

By David Hudson

Billy Porter has been hitting the media circuit this week to promote his new children’s book, Songbird In The Light. The picture book draws upon Porter’s own childhood experiences, and about finding one’s own voice, which in Porter’s case was through singing.

Besides talking about the book, interviewers have, of course, probed about other things going on in Porter’s life recently. He appeared on the Tamron Hall Show yesterday and was asked about his boyfriend, Eric Anderson.

Porter was previously in a six-year marriage with former husband Adam Smith, which ended in 2023. He began posting Instagram photos with Anderson, a teacher, last summer. Last November, Porter posted a birthday message to Anderson and said, “Sharing this last year with you has brought me more joy than I’ve ever known.”

Hall asked Porter to spill more on Anderson. Porter jokingly said people should “Mind their business.” However, he then praised Anderson’s work.

“He is a fashion enthusiast and an educator. Okay, he is back in the classroom as an eighth-grade school teacher, but I need to let y’all know that he was a principal at 28, a superintendent at 32. And went back to the classroom to be with the kids in the last year and a half.”

“Safety”

Hall asked Porter, “What made you open to this idea of bringing someone into your warm heart?”

Porter thinks about it for a moment and replies, “He showed up, and we both were ready. And there was a safety. There is a safety that I feel with him, and he feels with me, that I realized was the thing that was missing for me in the other relationships.”

“I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t understand it. We learn, we grow, we expand. And, you know, I’m grateful for all of the relationships that I’ve been in. People come into your life for a reason, a season, and or a lifetime. And I hope this one is for a lifetime. I pray this one is for a lifetime.”

“I’m ready. I’m 56 years old. I’m done with playing. I’m not trying to play up in these streets no more. I want to go come home and wrap my arms around somebody and watch a movie.”

Recovery from sepsis

On Tuesday, appearing on the Today show, Porter opened up about the health problems that forced him to pull out of Cabaret on Broadway last fall. He said it began as a urinary infection that was “not treated properly”, which then spread to his kidneys.

“Ended up with kidney stones stuck in the urethra, infection bubbled up into my bloodstream, urosepsis, ECMO machine, three days in a coma, compartment syndrome in my leg,” Porter recalled.

An ECMO machine takes over heart and lung function so the organs can rest and recover in life-threatening situations.

“Really, really serious,” Porter said. “I am on the road to complete recovery. It is a gift to be alive. It’s still emotional to talk about it, and I’m just really happy to be here.”

The Hunger Games

Porter was struck down by a life-threatening illness toward the end of his run in Cabaret (the show closed early following his hospitalization). It was also just before he was due to film his role in the next Hunger Games movie.

Fortuitously, the producers of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping accommodated his recovery and took steps to ensure he could still film the movie just a couple of weeks after his release from the hospital.

Porter again became emotional with Tamron Hall, thanking producers for the steps they took to ensure he could still film the blockbuster.

David Hudson is a contributing editor to Queerty who specializes in film, music, health, travel and queer culture. Connect with him on X and Bluesky and DM him with potential story ideas.

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Source: https://www.queerty.com/billy-porter-on-what-his-new-boyfriend-offers-him-that-his-past-relationships-did-not-20260319/