Happier to be out – Amanda

HAVING previously said she lived “an edited life”, veteran actress Amanda Barrie tells Day & Night she is far happier not hiding her private life.

The 81-year-old, who played Alma Baldwin in Coronation Street for 20 years, came out in 2002 and married her lesbian partner Hilary Bonner in 2014. Amanda now credits soap storylines for allowing her to feel comfortable in the public eye. “In my own circle life wasn’t edited but in the world and in the public yes,” she told us. “It was a relief [to come out] – totally.

“But things have changed so much since I did. Over the past few years things have steamrolled. I don’t think if you said to anyone younger that someone was gay they would bat an eyelid. And I think it is because of the medium … you see it like on soaps etc. If people see it on Coronation Street, then they accept us.”

Amanda, who once had a relationship with singer Billy Fury and was married to theatre director Robin Hunter from 1967 until he died in 2004, added: “The sooner you come out the better because it is not going to go away.

“But I hate that expression ‘coming out’ – it sounds like a wardrobe malfunction. I think we can come up with something better than that.”

PRESENTER KIRSTIE APOLOGISES IN ADVANCE: “IF YOU'RE YOU’RE SITTING NEAR ME ON THE TRAIN, I KNOW I SHOULD BE AT HOME IN BED & NOT SPREADING VILE GERMS ABOUT - BUT THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS IN TV.”