Former Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati has revealed they identify as non-binary.
The actor, 58, is best known for playing Sunita Alahan across two separate stints in the ITV soap between 2001 and 2013.
Shobna found fame in Victoria Wood sitcom dinnerladies, and portrayed Ray in both the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie musical and subsequent film adaption.
They’ve also had recurring roles in Doctors, River City, Doctor Who and Channel 4 comedy Hullraisers.
In a recent interview with former Loose Women co-star Kaye Adams, Shobna, who has been deputy lieutenant of Greater Manchester since 2015, revealed they only recently realised that they identified as non-binary.
‘I’ve become more happy describing myself as a person’ they explained on the How to be 60 podcast.
‘What do people call it now? Non-binary. So, I suppose that’s who I am.’
‘I’ve never had a word for it, but I’ve learnt from our younger generation what that might look like in terms of a word, because I know what it feels like in terms of being me.
‘All the way through my life I’ve never had the words for that and I’ve never managed to explain that and I suppose my immediate family have not really thought about it.’
The Corrie favourite continued: ‘They’ve just thought: “Shobna is either extremely feminine or extremely masculine.”
‘Because I was just accepted as a person who fell out of the tree and equally the person who put on all this make up and did a dance.
‘My father would say things like: “Oh, you haven’t dressed up today,” or “You haven’t washed your hair,” or “Your hair looks limp, you can’t go out like that.” I’d say: “Why not?”
‘He’d make comments along the way… “I walk like a boy.”
‘Lots of people tell me I walk like a boy, and I do. I just don’t know quite where it all comes from; it’s just who I am, and I’m happy in that now.’
Shobna went on to tell Kaye that the realisation was made following a conversation with a non-binary sound engineer that was working on the same show.
‘The sound person said to me that they were non-binary and I said: “what is that?” So, then they explained and I thought – “well, I feel like that, but I didn’t ever have that vocabulary.”
‘They said that they saw themselves as a person and that the gender – the he or the she – wasn’t important to who they are. And I thought: “that’s all I’ve ever thought.”
‘And I think now I’m free to say it out loud. I think people around me have accepted who I am for a long time without any explanation, but I suppose when I’m asked now, I’ll say it.’
Later, the star revealed some exciting relationship news.
Shobna was married to architect Anshu Srivastava, the father of son Akshay, in a Hindu ceremony in 1990, but they split four years later.
Between 1993 and 2003, Shobna was coupled up with Emmerdale’s Carlos Diaz, actor Gary Turner.
They told Kaye that they struggled with having a relationship in the public eye: ‘I did have relationships, but then they were very public.
‘It was sad for me, because I didn’t feel that I got enough time to have a relationship and to have more children and have a private life, because it was so un-private and so exposed.’
Speaking about their new partner, Shobna added: ‘I think I’ve loved this person all my life.’
Kaye asked whether her podcast guest would be open to dating all genders, to which they continued: ‘That is also something I’m looking at – what that means to me.
‘So yes, I would go for a person absolutely, regardless of their gender.’
Shobna left the cobbles in explosive fashion in 2013, when Sunita was trapped in the Rovers cellar during a catastrophic explosion.
Fearful that their affair would be exposed, twisted Karl Munro (John Michie) turned off her life support machine.
In a statement released at the time, the soap star said: ‘I have loved playing Sunita but, having played the role originally from 2001 to 2005 and then returning to Corrie four years ago, I really feel the time has come for me to focus on other aspects of my career.
‘I had always told myself I would see my son through school, and I have done that.
‘Comedy writing has long been a passion of mine and the commitment to a show like Corrie is huge and doesn’t really leave enough time to concentrate on other projects.
‘I’d love to be able to combine my writing and acting career in the future.
‘Playing Sunita has been a fabulous opportunity. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed her journey and am looking forward with excitement to her dramatic departure.
‘I shall miss her. That said, I have made a host of friends [in the] cast and crew – friendships that will stay with me.’
