WASHINGTON: Chely Wright, the first major American country music star to come out publicly as gay, announced she and her same-sex spouse are expecting twins this summer.

“They're due in July, but with identical twins you typically have to deliver a month early,” said Wright alongside wife Lauren Blitzer-Wright in a web chat with her publicist Howard Bragman.

“So we are anticipating that I'll be as big as a bus or an A-frame house by around June,” added the singer-songwriter, who is carrying the fetuses at the age of 42.

Wright's popularity among largely conservative country music fans took a hit in May 2010 when she went public about her sexual orientation, but she has continued to perform while continuing to campaign for gay and lesbian rights.

“My life has changed 1,000 percent since 2010,” Wright said. “I've enjoyed freedom, and freedom continues to evolve for me.” Wright and Blitzer-Wright, also director of marketing at Sony Music Entertainment, tied the knot in August 2010 in Connecticut, one of the nine states in America that allow same-sex marriage.

Bragman, whose web chat with the couple appears on the LGBT-oriented GwistTV channel on YouTube, has been instrumental as a prominent Hollywood publicist in helping gay and lesbian American entertainers to come out.