he says things. But a wider audience
doesn’t know the other side of him, which is a gentle, kind, very loving person, and a very loyal friend. So, no job would ever affect our friendship. Our friendship is for life. I’ve been in constant contact with him over 14 years and something like this wouldn’t break up our friendship. Dancing On Ice is live. Is that nerve- racking? No. I think, for me, because I’ve done so much live work – such as West End shows and doing concerts, you know, so you’re used to that sort of adrenaline rush. It’s exciting. Sometimes you can fluff what you’re saying. It doesn’t come out in the way that you wanted to say it, but you know what? Shit happens. That’s live TV. But no, it doesn’t bother me. You spoken before about having speech impediments – that’s why I asked about whether doing live TV made you nervous? Impediments? It’s impediment – just the one, darling! No, it’s fine. I think, that also, through Pineapple, people know me, and they take the piss out of it, and it’s part of who I am. It doesn’t bother me in the
slightest; it’s who I am. I’ve never had a problem with having a lisp. Did you ever suffer any bullying when younger? No. I was called a poof, all that sort of playground stuff, but I was brought up on a council estate. My parents moved from Enfield to Essex when I was five, and there were loads of young families that had moved out there, so there was this big community and we all grew up together. Everyone knew me and how I was. I’ve always been camp. I mean, I’m not constantly camp, but once I get going… I’d make people laugh, and people always laughed, not at me, but with me. Well, sometimes they’d laugh at me, but usually with me, and I think coming from a community like that, all growing up together, as I say, people just knew me for who I was. I had a wonderful upbringing. I know that sounds wanky, but my parents never tried to say that I couldn’t dance, or I couldn’t put on the ballet tights, or I couldn’t do this or that... they didn’t try to change me. They couldn’t give a shit as long as I was happy. I had three sisters. We were very much loved and we were very much happy. We were a very open family and we talked about everything. I mean, we didn’t talk about me being gay at a young age, even though I knew. I mean, I knew when I was five. Literally. I fancied the ice cream man. I put in my autobiography, I fancied Mr Whippy! I mean, I didn’t know what it was, but every time that bell would ring, I’d have to run out and I would just stand there while people bought their ice creams. You’ve commented before about reading homophobic Tweets. Does stuff like that ever get you down? People just want you to reply to their Tweets for a reaction. They’ll only have about three followers. I have over half a million followers. People will write the most vile things. Sometimes I don’t even like to say to journalists, because they will sensationalise it and turn it into a headline, but no, it doesn’t bother me, and they are very much in the
minority. Tweets like ‘You gay motherfucker – I hope you die of AIDS’, and all that, I just block and delete. I actually feel sorry for those people because their ignorance is just beyond belief. Getting a bit more
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into it, their ignorance… they’re the kind of person who could contract something like AIDS because they’re the type of person to think that something like that couldn’t touch them. Because they’re so naïve and narrow-minded, they don’t understand the way the world works, and the way people work, and the fact that they are as likely to come into contact with HIV as any gay man, do you know what I mean? Do you ever pick up on any nasty comments from other gay men? There was… about two years ago… what newspaper does The Pink List? It’s The Independent On Sunday. Yes. There was something, and I didn’t even read it. It said something about me giving a bad name to gays or something for being camp. Stephen Fry actually then said ‘How dare you say this; I think he’s great a person, etc’… the thing about that is, it’s one person, or ten people, making a judgment on me, and they don’t even know me. And the fact is, these people are supposed to be choosing gay people and they’re being discriminatory towards someone who’s simply in the public eye and being themselves. So, they are trying to say ‘let’s celebrate gay people’, but then they’re trying to say ‘right, you can’t be like that because you’re not really like that’, well I’m sorry but I am. I am really like this. What you see is a huge part of who I am. Yes, I’m not sat here doing the splits now, or doing back flips, or mincing up and down, but that is a huge part of who I am, and how dare you actually tell me who I am, and how dare you say to anyone out there, gay, straight or whatever but especially gay, that we need to conform. We will be who we want to be. We’ve fought for equality for years and years and years, and yet, now you’re turning around and saying that I have to conform. Go fuck yourself, you fucking homophobic homosexual! Does it bother me? No. This is actually the first time I’ve spoken about it. I’ve never spoken about it before. I go home to my wonderful husband. We love each other so much, and have a wonderful relationship. I’ve got my wonderful friends. That’s the sad aspect. That’s someone who’s got something missing in their life. That’s how I feel about it. If this all ended tomorrow, my life was perfect and wonderful before this happened. These people... I don’t believe they have what I have. If they had what I have, they wouldn’t have to go out there and say and do the things they do. For gay people to tell other gay people how they should be, and to try and make us conform, you know… gay, bisexual, transgender, whatever, that’s your life. If you’re happy and happy with who you are, don’t deny yourself and don’t give a fuck what other people say.
Dancing On Ice is on ITV on Sunday nights. Louie Spence’s autobiography, Still Got It, Never Lost It! is out now.
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