Singer Clay Aiken helped his best friend fulfill her dream of having a baby and has become a father, something the friend says he is very good at.

When reports surfaced in May that “American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken would help his best friend, record producer Jaymes Foster, become a mother via in vitro fertilization and that the two would raise the child together, it sounded like something right out of a movie…

Anyone remember Madonna’s 2000 comedy-drama “The Next Vest Thing,” co-starring Rupert Everett and Benjamin Bratt? Sure, it was a commercial flop and critics were anything but enthusiastic about it, but the idea was nice.

A heterosexual woman and a homosexual man are best friends, they become quite drunk one night, they console each other and soon find they are expecting a child. It ends happily too.

Clay Aiken has long been rumored to be gay but over the years, ever since finding fame as a contestant on the second season of hit reality-competition show “American Idol,” he has also been consistent in avoiding questions regarding his sexual orientation, sometimes being downright straightforward in dodging them, like he did a couple of years ago, when he told Diane Sawyer that it was “really rude” of her to ask about his sexuality.

People magazine received the much sought after answer this week though, as the new issue features an exclusive interview with Clay Aiken and friend and mother of his baby Jaymes Foster.

The cover leaked (specifically on the perezhilton.com website), showing Aiken holding 7-week son Parker Foster Aiken in his arms, with the caption reading, “Yes, I’m Gay.” The text underneath was an excerpt from the interview, with Aiken saying, “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things.” The public grew very interested of course.

Aiken, 29, and Foster, 50, welcomed their baby boy in early August and the singer posted a message on his website at the time, explaining excitedly how the little one had come into the world in a North Carolina hospital, at 8:08, 08/08/08. “Wow,” the first-time wrote of the repeating 8, detailing that the “little man” was healthy, happy and “as loud as his daddy.”

Aiken, Foster and the baby now live in the singer’s home in North Carolina and are doing quite well, they told People.

Jaymes Foster, the sister of famous music producer David Foster, extolled Aiken’s natural caregiving abilities, telling the magazine how happy he is to change the baby’s diapers, to cater to his every need and to do the one thing Foster is a bit shy of: clip little Parker’s hand nails.

As to the singer’s decision to share with the world the very private fact that he is gay, Foster told People that she supports him completely with his resolution. Adding that she and Aiken “love each other dearly,” Foster said it is now their “job” to remain best friends throughout their lives and to be good parents to Parker.

Parker is the middle name of Clay Aiken’s mother, Faye, now proud grandmother. He is the first child for both Foster, who has been divorced for several years, and for Aiken. The new parents met when Aiken competed on “American Idol” and have worked on several of his albums.