Last week, a few steps from Manhattan's Little Island, the people enjoying sunshine on the High Line took little notice of the man who helped create this corner of the world, the legendary businessman Barry Diller.
"When you're up here, even though you're not up very high, you really are elevated, [with] a totally different perspective of the city," Diller said.
Barry Diller with correspondent Tracy Smith on the High Line in Manhattan.
CBS News
Talk about different perspectives: At 83, Diller himself is now inviting people to take another look at him. Next week he'll release his memoir, more than ten years in the making. In "Who Knew" he names plenty of names, tells wild stories, and bares his soul about things he says he'd vowed never to talk about in public.
In his preface he writes, "When I was young, I was far too afraid. I'm no longer that. And I'm too old to care."
Afraid of what? "I was afraid of secrets being revealed," he said. "I was afraid of, I thought I didn't qualify. I think, just afraid of revealing myself."
Simon & Schuster
Diller says he was in grade school when he first realized he might be gay. "Eleven or twelve years old, or 13, I got on my bike, and I rode down to the Beverly Hills Public Library. And I looked for books on homosexuality. And everything I read was, like, horrible. And I got on my bike and I rode home and thought, I'm a condemned person. I mean, for a little kid, that's not great."
He had his first sexual encounter at age 16. I asked, "Did you tell your friends? Did you tell anybody about it?"
"Of course not! Are you kidding? I didn't tell myself," Diller replied. "I mean, I thought – oh, what did I think? I thought, Oh, I did that. I don't have to do it again."
"I did this thing with a guy, but that's the end of it?" I asked.
"Yeah, I don't need to do that again," Diller said. "And then a month later, I did. And then I knew."
But at the time, he thought it best to keep it a secret. He vowed never to lie about it, only to keep it quiet. He writes that, through his life, his sexuality was like an "anvil on a wire" hanging over his head. "Yes, because I was afraid," he said. "Listen, this is in the '60s and '70s. Well, I think probably I was being realistic that, first of all, my sexuality was confused. And I thought, Well, if I reveal it, what am I actually gonna reveal?
"I didn't want to risk what a lot of other people had risked, even at that time. I mean, talking about homosexuality, talking about bi-, whatever sexuality is, was something that scared the hell out of me," he said.
A 1974 portrait of ABC-TV executive Barry Diller.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
In private, Diller lived in fear of being found out, but in public he was one of the gutsiest leaders in the game. As a junior executive at ABC, he pioneered the highly-successful movie of the week, and later created the even-more successful TV miniseries, with landmark events such as "Roots."
When "Roots" first aired in 1977, more than half the U.S. population tuned in. "You really were having 30 to 40 to 50,000,000 people watching at one time, 'cause there was of course no recorder," he said. "It was appointment viewing. And everyone in America came to the appointment."
And then, the man who conquered TV went to the movies, becoming, at age 32, head of Paramount.
Did he feel like he belonged? "Oh my God, no," he said. "When I became chairman of Paramount – and I was this kid from television, of all things – it was like, 'How in God's name did that happen? That is an accident of history that will be quickly corrected.'"
But the kid from TV knew how to tell a good story, and gave the green light to a string of films that have since become classics, like 1977's "Saturday Night Fever."
It was during those early days at Paramount that Diller met fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. Interestingly, they didn't click at first. "Yeah, the first time I met her, I never wanted to see her again, 'cause she was dismissive of me and whatever," he said. "But then, the second time that we met, which was a few months later, within minutes, it was pure desire."
"It was a steamy romance," I said.
"Yes. Oh, yes, it was those things."
"And you make it clear – I mean, I'll just put it out there – your relationship with Diane is not just platonic."
"No. No. It didn't start that, no, no, no, no."
"You're lovers."
"Yes."
Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg at a Metropolitan Museum Gala in New York City, 1982.
Rose Hartman/Getty Images
"It seems to me like one of the points you're trying to make in the book is that it doesn't have to be a mutually-exclusive thing – that you can be in love with Diane and, at the same time, be attracted to men?"
"Yes," said Diller. "I don't see anything mutually exclusive with that, no. I mean, other people may, but I don't. If I know that the person cares about me, I'm not jealous of anything else. So, that's just luck, I guess."
Diller says he owes much of his professional success to luck as well. And he has had a lot of it: In the '80s, as the chairman of Fox, he created a fourth TV network, Homer Simpson and all.
Asked if he gets bored by success, Diller replied, "Yes, definitely. I mean, once it's there, what are you going to do with it?"
In the '90s, Diller switched gears again, investing in home shopping, and eventually scooping up a bunch of internet businesses that became household names, like Expedia and Match.com.
And in-between, he and Furstenberg helped create the High Line, donating their time and tens of millions of dollars. "It doesn't cure cancer," he said. "It's not going to change the dynamics of the world, eradicate disease, or whatever. But it brings pleasure to people."
He says he has a similar goal with this book: to share a good story. And that means telling the truth – to finally let go of a secret he's been holding onto for a lifetime.
I asked, "You do touch on these feelings of, Maybe I was wrong?"
"I don't know that I was wrong about not talking about my private life; I think I was a coward," Diller said. "And I don't like that. But that is the truth. I was. I did not have – and I wish I did – I did not have the courage, at that time, to make declarations."
"Does that weigh on you?"
"I wouldn't call it weighing on me," he said, "but it is something that, of course, I've thought …" He paused. "But it didn't turn out so terribly."
The same might be said of his personal life, too: Diller and von Furstenberg were married in 2001, and they're as strong as ever.
He calls his relationship with her the bedrock of his life. "Well, I don't know any better description than bedrock," Diller said. "The best times for us are when it's just us. And after almost 50 years, how lucky do you get?"
READ AN EXCERPT: "Who Knew" by Barry Diller
In his new memoir, the former TV, film and media executive explains the limitations of too much information - when instinct (for, like, what makes an intriguing Movie of the Week?) may be a better predictor of success.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Barry Diller
For more info:
Story produced by John D'Amelio. Editor: Remington Korper.
See also:
