Former Coronation Street actress Amanda Barrie revealed she feared being “sacked” by TV executives if she had come out while on the show.
Barrie, who turns 90 this week, played Alma Sedgewick on and off from 1981 until 2001.
Amanda Barrie, married to novelist Hilary Bonner for nearly 10 years, publicly came out as bisexual in her 2002 autobiography It’s Not A Rehearsal: The Autobiography.
Speaking on This Morning about her fears, she said she felt she couldn’t come out, adding that it was even harder for men. She recalled that shortly after joining Coronation Street, someone she trusted “shopped” her to the press.
“But I never kept my life from anybody. All my friends saw everything. Everybody knew everything.
“I think people thought it was catching, if you dealt with anybody who happened to be not quite straight down the middle, that we might catch that. But you were sort of pushed away, really, and whispered about it.”
The TV star added that she thinks TV executives would not have wanted her on the show if they knew about her sexuality.
She said she was certain the show would have fired her if she had come out at the time, believing the reaction would have been a firm “we don’t want anything to do with that.” Barrie also recalled initially fearing public backlash, thinking she might be “stoned in the streets” when she came out.
She added that, in the end, she received “a lot of hugs” and her sexuality was quietly accepted without discussion. Barrie is also remembered for her roles in the 1960s Carry On films Carry On Cabby and Carry On Cleo, and she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018.