Richard Coles opens up about being a gay reverend on I’m a Celebrity

I’m a Celebrity contestant Reverend Richard Coles has said that being gay and in the church never caused him “a twinge of anxiety”.

On Monday night’s episode (25 November) of the ITV show, Coles, 62, was chatting to content creator GK Barry about juggling his sexuality and religion.

Barry, who earlier in the series opened up about her sexuality and coming out, asked Coles: “Did you find it quite difficult being gay and doing that job?”

Coles then confessed: “No, not at all. I’ve never given it a moment’s twinge of anxiety over whether God thought it was alright or not. Whether other people thought it was alright or not, well I’m happy to have that argument…”

He added of his sexuality: “Also, I was not the first. Sometimes I look at documents from the early church, or the church of the middle ages and I just think – so gay.”

The pair have formed an unlikely friendship in the camp, with Barry admitting in the Bush Telegraph:“I came into this jungle, maybe not knowing who I would gel with or who I would be close with in here and never in a million years if you told me that I would be getting on best with a reverend would I have believed you. But, he is honestly... I think he might be my favourite person in here.”

Coles, a former Church of England vicar, lost his husband Reverend David Coles just days before Christmas in 2019. He died age 43 from liver disease caused by an alcohol addiction.

In his 2021 book, The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss, Richard wrote: “It was really, really tough to see somebody you love destroy himself.

“It is like someone is drowning and you throw them a lifebelt but they are just not taking the lifebelt.

“And I did try everything I could think of to help him stop drinking, and in fairness to him he did try too, but it was too much for him.”

During their partnership, Richard had maintained that he and David cohabitated on the basis that they didn’t have sex, as Church of England vicars are required to practice celibacy.

But in an interview with The Times earlier this year, Richard indicated that this was untrue, and that he and David had lied to continue in their positions in the church.

When journalist Andrew Billen noted that it would have annoyed and upset him to lie about his life in this way, Richard replied: “It wears off pretty quickly... I mean, I felt sometimes like I was in the resistance and they were the Gestapo.

“I mean, I’m overstating it, but what I did feel is that they had no moral cause, so I didn’t feel that I had a moral obligation at all.

“And I’m not the first person to find themselves obliged to lie for institutional reasons in the Church of England,” he added.

Richard also previously stated that he and David, who he entered a civil partnership with in 2010, had planned to marry after they both retired. Same-sex marriage is not permitted in the Church of England, and could have resulted in both men losing their positions.

Richard retired as vicar of Finedon, North Northamptonshire, in 2022 due to his belief that the organisation was excluding gay couples, and his disapproval of what he described as its “conservative, punchy and fundamentalist” direction.

He has been in a relationship with the actor Richard Cant since 2023.

The former parish priest first rose to fame as part of the 1980s band the Communards, who achieved three UK top 10 hits, including “Don’t Leave Me This Way”.

Since then, he has appeared on various radio and TV shows including BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme, QI, Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News for You.