Richard Carpenter - Gay?

He refused to let Todd Haynes use Carpenters songs in Superstar because the film paints him as a fucked up closet case, I think. Great film.

He was hot back in the early 1970's. Cute in a preppy, frat boy kind of way.

Gay, no. Homosexual yes.

Never cute. Those weirdly big eyes. His incestous relationship with Karen.

Richard - control freak. Definitely pinged my gaydar. But he's been married for 32 years and has 5 children.

What about Karen? Speculation on her orientation?

Who?

Didn't he marry his first cousin though?

You have to be in a special class of dim not to know who The Carpenters are.

You have to be in a special class of dim not to know the true motivation of the DL "Who?" trolls.

I'm special!

He's not gay. Olivia Newton-John who was best friends with Karen Carpenter, said Karen was always trying to get her together with Richard but didn't like Richard at all. Newton-John said, he was too controlling. I saw her on Merv or Mike Douglas, after Karen made her solo album and Karen said that her brother said, she "stole" the Carpenter's sound for her solo album. Olivia, on the same show, replied, "how can you steal the Carpenter's sound, you ARE the Carpenter's sound?"

Wow. I don't think I've ever heard Olivia criticize anybody. Not like that, anyway.

Now:

Siblings:

Tragic marriage:

The girls:

Please eat:

Tell us about the guy she married.

Technically, you're asking if this Carpenter guy is a wood worker.

r11 made it up in his DL mind.

Richard arpenter should be giving after 40 skincare advice!

"Richard arpenter should be giving after 40 skincare advice!"

Calling his product (Skin So Damn Good, You'll Let Them Get) Close To You.

He moved Karen's remains from an easily accessible cemetery to one that fans have a problem getting to.

The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center. (At Cal State-Long Beach.) The lobby is full of Carpenters memorabilia-- gold records, clothing, Karen's drums, etc.

I wonder if there is any unreleased material of Karen's left?

Her new grave is near a Costco. I'm sure her fans can find it.

He married his cousin! Richard and Mary have five children: Kristi Lynn, Traci Tatum, Mindi Karen, Colin Paul, and Taylor Mary. The children and Richard sometimes perform music together at various Carpenter-related events.

Imagine the damage done to the gene pool.

Yes, I is gay. I went on a date with him. It is the only time that I made excuses and left in the middle of a date. Even on a first date, he was very controlling and their was something very creepy about him- like serial killer creepy. I should mention that there was a 13 year age difference between us; so, I would say his type is much younger boys.

Richard's wife was adopted by his aunt and uncle. So they are "technically" first cousins, but they are not genetically related. It's still pretty fucking gross, though.

R29 has a rather precious attitude about unrelated people who happen to be in close enough proximity to marry.

[quote]Pretty fucking gross.

Sounds like a never-been-touched millennial whose self-purchased Valentine candy was gone by 2 pm, and hour after she woke up.

So r30, how long have you and your cousin been fucking?

[quote]Yes, I is gay.

WTF?

Girls who play drums:

Beautiful:

Tragic irony...

Already painfully thin:

It didn't end well...

"The lobby is full of Carpenters memorabilia-- gold records, clothing, Karen's drums, etc."

The hamburgers she should have eaten...

Big Brother Is Watching:

Duet:

Rare happiness:

At rest with mommy and daddy:

r11

It's on YouTube on Merv or Mike or one of those.

Karen and her parents were originally buried in Forest Lawn Cypress but when Richard left the Long Beach/Downey area and moved to the far north of LA County, he moved everyone to a stand alone mausoleum in the Pierce Brothers Calabasas cemetery. This new mausoleum has plenty of slots for the rest of the family, something that might not have been available in Cypress.

Also, while Cypress is more central located in the Metro LA area, Forest Lawn is getting more militant about keeping fans out of their cemeteries (given the "Death Hags" often bad behavior, everyone suffers) while Pierce Brothers welcomes visitors of all sorts (except vandals). People who travel out there to visit Karen will actually get to visit her -- they won't be pounced on by security.

Up until the 90s, however, Forest Lawn would let fans visit, but send salesmen and women masquerading as fellow fans or neighboring bereaved to try and sell plots.

I wonder what would have happened if the less talented sibling (Richard) hadn't insinuated himself into the career of the more talented sibling.

Karen may not have happened, but, if she did, I think it probably would have been with better music. I hated his over-the-top, cheesy arrangements and voice.

Richard is a stellar arranger/producer -- but he walled himself off with just the Carpenters. He should have moved on to work with other A&M artists.

That shirt Karen is wearing at R33 is in the display mentioned at R24.

who cares at this point?

Possibly the scores of readers, let alone the previous 40+ posters, r48

He's a good Mormon and Mormons are not gay. EVER.

It's fun to say people are gay when they're not, but neither Richard nor Karen Carpenter were gay. Richard is a boring conservative heterosexual male. Karen was unlucky in love. Her marriage was bizarre; she married a slimy creep and the marriage barely existed. Was HE gay? I can't remember the guy's name but he had a very non-masculine look about him.

They're not Mormons.

[quote]It's fun to say people are gay when they're not, but neither Richard nor Karen Carpenter were gay.

It's fun to say people are not gay when they are.

No, actually, it's pretty stupid when you don't know them and you are just caught up in silly star worship or some other, more pernicious agenda.

He's thin, LIKE I WANTED TO BE

oh who cares if some old fucker from 40 years ago is gay or not? i sure as fuck don'1!

there seems to be some question as to whether the cousin he married was adopted or not. The brother of the cousin says she was not adopted..........either way my hunch is Richard is way way creepy. From the 2 books out on Karen he also was and is extremely controlling. I wonder if he ever looks in the mirror and admits to himself he had a big part in his sisters early demise. The mother was the real bad guy in the story. Controlling in the extreme and only had eyes for her son........very screwed up family. Karen was the talent and she should have gone out on her own and taken out a restraining order against her brother and her mother. Had she done so she probably would have had a great career and a much happier (longer) life

Karen is the one who pings my gaydar, she seems the very model of an unawakened lesbian. The kind of girl from a conservative, controlling family who does her damndest to be what they think a girl should be - but who can't bring herself to marry a man who seems heterosexual, or to keep from breaking out in little acts of butchness. Probably can't admit her feelings to herself, because she knows that doing so would mean shattering her relationship with her family, and you hope she'll find the courage to do it someday.

And even if Richard is gay, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had an incestuous relationship with her anyway. Fucked-up isolated family, and a need to keep control over her as their fame grew - and he's all about the control. I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled the "I'm the only one who loves you" shit on her, even if he really is gay.

Their mother is the one who started Richard on prescription pills. He's not fat- he's a pill head. Easy mistake lol. The mother gave Richard QUAALUDES !

Rich had a HUGE life problem. He's a long time insular pill head. He's a control freak. He's damaged enough to marry his cousin and give his kids porn names.

Even back then- only acweirdo mother would give their own kid pills. It's incestuous.

* I wrote gay not fat. Weird spell check

For a mother to give her grown children pills, she must be a huge control freak as well - with a need to control their mental/emotional state!

What a fucked-up family, and it's a goddamn shame Karen could never free herself from them. If so, she might be a fat, happy, old lesbian today.