Dr Ranj Singh denies ‘lying’ to ex wife before coming out: ‘Just looking for happiness’
Dr Ranj Singh (Image: Getty Images)
Dr Ranj Singh has spoken about his sexuality and the backlash he received after his marriage ended, rejecting claims that he “deceived and lied” to his wife after coming out.
The TV doctor, a former This Morning contributor and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, the end of his marriage and the reaction that followed, have been the subject of renewed interest after his ex wife, Sulvinder Samra, spoke of it with Best.
During that conversation, Samra explained the final year of their marriage had been “difficult”. She claimed she found out that Dr Ranj had come out publicly from friends, saying: “I wasn’t expecting it … At that time, it hurt. I found it hurtful.”
She also referenced what would have been their 20th wedding anniversary on Instagram, saying the breakdown of her marriage made her feel “extremely unattractive”, “ashamed” and as though she “was not good enough”. Under the post, her sister denounced homophobia, instead saying: “The issue here is, and always has been, knowingly deceiving another person about what and who you are, and gambling with their life and feelings.”
Dr Ranj addressed her claims in a May Instagram post, saying he’s “genuinely sad” by the “pain and difficult feelings” the subject brings up.
More recently, speaking on Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, the telly doc opened up again, saying he “is not proud” of what happened.
However he has slammed the suggestion he “lied” or “deceived” his ex-wife, saying: “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.”
Dr Ranj’s coming out
Elsewhere in the conversation, Dr Ranj said he realised he was “queer” while having therapy, also coming to terms with the fact his marriage wasn’t working.
He explained: “It’s easier to say that you’re gay because everyone understands what that means.
“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.”
Moving on
Now, Singh is dating actor James Colebrook – however he still gets backlash whenever the topic of his past marriage comes up online.
He told O’Brien: “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.”
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