Former This Morning and Strictly Come Dancing star Dr Ranj Singh has hit back at claims he "deceived and lied" to his now ex-wife about his sexuality before coming out as gay. The medic was married to Sulvinder Samra for four years before telling her about his sexuality, which led to their divorce two years later, in 2011.
Difficult and emotional conversation
"That conversation was difficult, emotional but, you know, actually really important between the both of us," he recalled in a new podcast. Ranj said he realised he was "queer" during a therapy session, after coming to terms with the fact that his marriage was not working.
He later told his wife and, according to him, it was his in-laws who then told his parents before he had the chance to do so.
Speaking out on Full Disclosure podcast
Speaking on the Full Disclosure podcast with James O'Brien, the doctor said he "is not proud" of the situation and looks back on it with great difficulty, particularly acknowledging the "feelings of pain for everyone involved".
Attention surrounding his sexuality and marriage breakdown resurfaced during his time on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018, prompting his in-laws to speak out on the matter. His ex-wife has also recently opened up about their separation and the pain it caused her, both on social media and on a podcast.
While he has since moved on with his partner, actor James Colebrook, Ranj says he still receives abuse online from people accusing him of being deceptive.
Response to online abuse
He said: "When people say to me now... and you see the most horrible things online, things like, 'You lied, you deceived, you misled'.
"I was like no, not at all, I was just looking for happiness like everybody else and I was led to believe and grew up thinking my happiness was here.
"When actually, every other, let's say heterosexual person, gets to trial and error and you work out what is and isn't your happiness and relationships fail for lots of reasons, we need to stop treating any kind of relationship that involves a queer person as some sort of scandal because it's not, it's life," he added.
Realising his identity through therapy
Ranj went on to say he realised he was queer through counselling, telling James it took him "years" to understand his identity.
"It's easier to say that you're gay because everyone understands what that means," he explained.
"Queer is anything that's basically not heterosexual and it includes any kind of bi, pansexuality, fluidity, sexuality, identity, all of those things are fluid and they change as we grow. Therapy helped me with that," he added.
Ex-wife's emotional post
Back in May, Sulvinder shared an emotional post about her marriage breakdown on what would have been their wedding anniversary.
In the caption, she wrote: "I grew up being told that I must set a good example, get a good education, a good job, and an Indian husband.
"When it ended, both parties were hurting, and a divorce was the only option. I mourned. It was heavy because the future I thought I had was gone and the person that I thought I had married was gone as well," she added.
"I questioned everything. I felt extremely unattractive. I was ashamed. I believed I was not good enough."
Concluding her post, she added: "Don't let the past dictate your future. You get to choose what your story is going to be… no one else."
