"I was Larry Birkhead's secret gay lover!"

Male model Kerrick Ross claims he was Larry Birkhead's secret gay lover.

In an exclusive with the NATIONAL ENQUIRER Kerrick Ross details a torrid two-month sexual affair with the man who won the blockbuster paternity battle for Anna Nicole Smith's baby girl.

"America doesn't know the whole story about Larry Birkhead," Kerrick, who's 38 and lives in Louisville, Ky., told The ENQUIRER.

"He apparently had sex with Anna Nicole and fathered her baby, but there is no question: He also had sex with me!"

The two met at a cocktail party in Louisville around mid-2000 when Birkhead was a struggling real estate agent and writer, angling for a show business career in Hollywood.

"We were together for about two months and had sex eight to 10 times, always at my apartment. He often spent the whole night with me."

But Birkhead insisted on keeping their romance a secret. "I had been 'out' for a long time, but Larry was not out of the closet — and he was terrified about his family, who were devout Southern Baptists, finding out he was having a gay relationship," revealed Kerrick.

"He was especially afraid of his father finding out. He said, 'If my Dad knew about this, he would kill me!'

Birkhead's lawyers deny that he had a gay relationship with Kerrick, but Kerrick passed a rigorous polygraph test administered by a top-notch examiner.

And Kerrick says Larry didn't consider himself gay. "He was more comfortable saying he was bi-sexual," Kerrick told The ENQUIRER. "I never knew him to go out with women when we were together, but I found out after we broke up that he had been seeing women. "While Kerrick says Birkhead was inexperienced at gay sex, he found out later that he'd stolen Larry from another man!

Larry is reportedly so upset with the gay claims, that he plans to sue.

TMZ has confirmed that Birkhead hired ferocious celebrity lawyer Marty Singer to sue some of the tabs for defamation of character.

Birkhead has told Singer that a few tabs have lashed out at him because he sealed a deal with OK! magazine to publish the first pics of daddy with Dannielynn.
EOnline reports Larry was paid $1.7 million by OK for the exclusive sit-down and first photos of him and his daughter. "He says he needs the money," a source tells E!

Late last month, Birkhead was hit with a bill for more than $600,000 from his former attorney, Debra Opri.

OK's editor-in-chief, Sarah Ivens, who would not say how much was paid, says the undisclosed payment didn't go to Birkhead. "All deals private and confidential, but all fees went to a trust fund for the baby,"

"Have you seen the feature?" she added. "It's worth every dime!"