AceShowbiz -

It's official, Adam Lambert is gay, admitting in an interview with the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine, "I don't think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I'm gay." He adds, "I've been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man."

"I'm proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It's just another part of me," he confesses. However, he prefers not to come out of the closet during his time on the eight season of "American Idol", saying because it would be "so sensationalized that it would overshadow what I was there to do, which was sing."

"Right after the finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, 'I'm going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,'" he reveals. "I didn't want the Clay Aiken thing and the celebrity-magazine bullshit. I need to be able to explain myself in context."

In further interview, Adam also says that he has a crush on "American Idol" champion Kris Allen. "I was like, 'Oh, s***, they put me with the cute guy,'" he recalls of bunking in the Idol mansion with Kris. "Distracting! He's the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type - except that he has a wife. I mean, he's open-minded and liberal, but he's definitely 100 percent straight."

Despite the fact that he is gay and has been seen putting a united front with his alleged partner, Drake LaBry, Adam admits he loves the attention he gets from his female fans. "I loved it this season when the girls went crazy for me. As far as I'm concerned, it's all hot," he claims.

"The Liberation of Adam Lambert, Wild Idol," so read the tagline that accompanies the Idol runner-up cover shot. The exclusive video of his cover shot plus more details of his sexuality are on Rolling Stone's new issue, which will hit the newsstands this coming Friday, June 12.