Diane von Furstenberg is setting the record straight following her husband Barry Diller’s public revelation about his sexuality. Diller, a media mogul, shared in his March 2025 memoir “Who Knew” that he dated only men before his decades-long relationship with von Furstenberg began. Now, the fashion icon made it clear that the news doesn’t change a thing between them.
“What’s the difference?” von Furstenberg told Variety in an interview published October 16. “I don’t understand. But it doesn’t change anything. I’m sorry—it’s a stupid question.”
Diane von Furstenberg Shares Her Perspective
Von Furstenberg and Diller’s relationship spans more than five decades, though they’ve been married for 24 years. The pair first became romantically involved in the late 1970s. Diller’s revelation followed years of speculation about his sexuality, which he addressed openly for the first time in his memoir.
The 78-year-old designer also referenced her past marriage to Prince Egon von Fürstenberg, who came out as bisexual after their separation in 1972. “I married two gay men, OK?” she said. “I don’t know why, but to me, they’re not gay, so it doesn’t make any difference.”
Von Furstenberg emphasized that she doesn’t see her marriage as an act of support through some kind of public journey. “People see it that way,” she explained. “For me, it’s not that way. I don’t know. Yes, I encouraged him to do that book.”
She also stressed that “Who Knew” should not be defined solely by Diller’s coming out. “For me, the book is not about that,” she said. “It’s about his life. And of course, with me, he opened immediately. For 50 years, I was the only person he opened to. Then he wrote the book.”
Barry Diller Reflects on His Relationship With Diane
Von Furstenberg admitted she didn’t expect her connection with Diller to become romantic. “He turned out to be my soulmate. I didn’t think of it at first,” she said. “I was interested in being a good friend; I never thought it would be anything else. Then it turned to passion. He was very insistent.”
Diller echoed that sentiment in his memoir, describing his surprise at their bond.
“I can’t explain it to myself or to the world,” he wrote. “It simply happened to both of us without motive or manipulation. In some cosmic way we were destined for each other.”
He added that his romantic feelings for von Furstenberg were as powerful as any he’d had before. “When my romance with Diane began, I never questioned that its biological imperative was as strong in its heterosexuality as its opposite had been,” he wrote. “When it happened, my initial response was, ‘Who knew?’”
