Although van der Heyden had referenced being gay on air at several points in his career on local television in Montreal, he came out definitively on national television as a member of the LGBT community during a live TV interview with Clay Aiken about the Orlando nightclub shooting on 14 June 2016.
Van der Heyden has been an active member of the community for decades and has volunteered, donated to and spoken on behalf of several LGBTQ organizations over the years.
From 1997 to 2000, van der Heyden worked as a volunteer at Vidéotron's cable access channel Canal Vox, as well as freelanced at CBC Radio in Montreal and the Toronto Star newspaper.
[4] On December 2, 2011 it was announced that van der Heyden would be leaving CTV Montreal for a promotion, joining CTV News Channel, the network's 24-hour cable news channel based in Toronto.
Van der Heyden is also the host of a weekly nationally syndicated radio show "Viewpoints with Todd van der Heyden" which airs on all Bell Media talk radio stations across Canada.