New Kids on the Block member Jonathan Knight is a proud newlywed these days, but he says he felt a lot of pressure to hide his true self during the early stages of his music career.

Knight, who is gay, appeared this week on the Frosted Tips with Lance Bass podcast, where he shared the painful memory of being told by a manager that his time as a pop singer would be over if he addressed his sexuality publicly.

My manager knew I was gay, Knight recalled to Bass. He pulled me aside and he was like: If anybody finds out, then your careers over, the New Kids careers [are] over ... Sonys gonna lose money. It was just so much pressure. Looking back, that was a lot of pressure to put on somebody who is just trying to figure out the world themselves.