‘American Idol’ Alum Chris Daughtry’s Wife Comes out as Bisexual

Chris Daughtry’s wife Deanna is coming out as bisexual in the American Idol alum’s new song “As You Are.”

The new single off of Daughtry’s “Cage to Rattle” album from last year began as a poem written by his wife, the singer told PEOPLE Wednesday, which she initially wrote as part of her struggle to embrace her sexuality.

“She basically said, ‘If this inspires you, feel free to use it,’” Chris told the publication. “She kind of downplayed it and walked away, which made me want to read it even more.”

“It just felt very real and very honest,” he recalled of reading the lyrics for the first time. “I instantly started hearing the chorus in my head.”

Deanna had previously told her husband and a handful of people about her bisexuality, revealing that she had been in a relationship with a woman in her past.

“I didn’t care,” Chris said to PEOPLE of his reaction. “I didn’t feel threatened. I wanted her to be happy with who she was and not hide that or be ashamed.”

Deanna, meanwhile, told the magazine she was struggling to come out fully as bisexual.

“I was hiding and shutting down a part of myself,” she explained, “and it was causing me to shut down so many good, beautiful things about myself. As I built these walls up to protect myself, I was creating a prison, and I couldn’t fully experience life and people couldn’t fully experience me — and it’s all based on fear.”

“I really wanted to be vulnerable and say, ‘This is who I am,’” she added of the inspiration behind what would eventually become “As You Are”. “I love me. I hope you will love me, but if you don’t, that’s okay because I still have myself, and I do have people that love me as I am, and that’s all I want.”

Deanna added she wanted to come out publicly as bisexual, despite being in a monogamous marriage, to help combat others’ feelings of fear and shame.

“I understand the fear of ‘what if someone finds out and they’re going to reject me?’” she said. “Those are fears that heterosexual people don’t need to worry about, and I’ve walked it.”

Photo credit: Instagram/Chris Daughtry