According to VG Nett, the former boyfriend of GORGOROTH frontman Gaahl (real name: Kristian Espedal), 20-year-old Norwegian modeling agent Dan DeVero, claims to have received death threats from the black metal community after Gaahl publicly acknowledged that he was gay.

In an interview that was published in the latest issue of Germany's Rock Hard magazine, Gaahl, 33, spoke for the first time about his sexual orientation, stating, "It doesn't feel to me as if I've outed myself because up until now the whole thing was a non-issue for me. All this evolved very naturally. I feel how I feel and I've never made any secret about it."

However, not everyone reacted positively to the news, and DeVero, who first met Gaahl in early 2007, says that he has received threats by phone and e-mail. "I'm going insane, but that's the price you pay when you come out in the media," he told VG Nett.

According to DeVero, he and Gaahl are still good friends. They have also have also since become partners in an unlikely venture — a wholly Norwegian clothing collection for women dubbed Wynjo, which, according to Gaahl, is an ancient Norse word meaning "the search for happiness."

Dan DeVero (photo displayed from VG.no):

Gaahl with Dan DeVero (photo displayed from iBergen.no):

(Thanks: Thomas Sundstrom)