REAL STORY BEHIND IT !! Coronation Street star, 58, comes out as non-binary ๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿฅณ

Formerย Coronation Streetย star Shobna Gulati has revealed they identify as non-binary.

The actor, 58, is best known forย playing Sunita Alahan across two separate stintsย in theย ITVย soap between 2001 and 2013.

Shobna found fame inย Victoria Wood sitcom dinnerladies, and portrayed Ray in both the Everybodyโ€™s Talking About Jamie musical andย subsequent film adaption.

Theyโ€™ve also had recurring roles in Doctors, River City,ย Doctor Whoย andย Channel 4ย comedy Hullraisers.

In a recent interview with former Loose Women co-starย Kaye Adams, Shobna, who has been deputy lieutenant of Greater Manchester since 2015, revealed they only recently realised that they identified as non-binary.

โ€˜Iโ€™ve become more happy describing myself as a personโ€™ they explained on theย How to be 60 podcast.

โ€˜What do people call it now? Non-binary. So, I suppose thatโ€™s who I am.โ€™

โ€˜Iโ€™ve never had a word for it, but Iโ€™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.

Dev and Sunita in Coronation Street
Shobna starred on the cobbles as Sunita Alahan๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ.๐™ž๐’๐™›๐’

โ€˜All the way through my life Iโ€™ve never had the words for that and Iโ€™ve never managed to explain that and I suppose my immediate family have not really thought about it.โ€™

The Corrie favourite continued: โ€˜Theyโ€™ve just thought: โ€œShobna is either extremely feminine or extremely masculine.โ€

โ€˜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.

โ€˜My father would say things like: โ€œOh, you havenโ€™t dressed up today,โ€ or โ€œYou havenโ€™t washed your hair,โ€ or โ€œYour hair looks limp, you canโ€™t go out like that.โ€ Iโ€™d say: โ€œWhy not?โ€

โ€˜Heโ€™d make comments along the wayโ€ฆ โ€œI walk like a boy.โ€

โ€˜Lots of people tell me I walk like a boy, and I do. I just donโ€™t know quite where it all comes from; itโ€™s just who I am, and Iโ€™m happy in that now.โ€™

Maxine Peake, Anne Reid, Andrew Dunn, Victoria Wood, Duncan Preston, Shobna Gulati and Thelma Barlow in Dinnerladies
They found fame in sitcom dinnerladies ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ.๐™ž๐’๐™›๐’

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.

โ€˜The sound person said to me that they were non-binary and I said: โ€œwhat is that?โ€ So, then they explained and I thought โ€“ โ€œwell, I feel like that, but I didnโ€™t ever have that vocabulary.โ€

โ€˜They said that they saw themselves as a person and that the gender โ€“ the he or the she โ€“ wasnโ€™t important to who they are. And I thought: โ€œthatโ€™s all Iโ€™ve ever thought.โ€

โ€˜And I think now Iโ€™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 Iโ€™m asked now, Iโ€™ll say it.โ€™

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.

Shobna Gulati at the 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie' film premiere
Shobna swapped the stage for the screen in Everybodyโ€™s Talking About Jamie ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ.๐™ž๐’๐™›๐’

Between 1993 and 2003, Shobna was coupled up with Emmerdaleโ€™s Carlos Diaz, actor Gary Turner.

They told Kaye that they struggled with having a relationship in the public eye: โ€˜I did have relationships, but then they were very public.

โ€˜It was sad for me, because I didnโ€™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.โ€™

Speaking about their new partner, Shobna added: โ€˜I think Iโ€™ve loved this person all my life.โ€™

Kaye asked whether her podcast guest would be open to dating all genders, to which they continued: โ€˜That is also something Iโ€™m looking at โ€“ what that means to me.

โ€˜So yes, I would go for a person absolutely, regardless of their gender.โ€™

Karl looks over Sunita's shoulder in Coronation Street
Sunita was killed off in 2013 ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ.๐™ž๐’๐™›๐’

Shobna left the cobbles in explosive fashionย 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)ย turned off her life support machine.

In a statement released at the time, the soap star said: โ€˜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.

โ€˜I had always told myself I would see my son through school, and I have done that.

Sunita points at Dev in Coronation Street
The star has a number of TV roles under their beltย  ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ.๐™ž๐’๐™›๐’

๐๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ โ€œ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘ .๐‘–๐‘›๐‘“๐‘œโ€ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ๐›๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง-๐๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฌ

โ€˜Comedy writing has long been a passion of mine and the commitment to a show like Corrie is huge and doesnโ€™t really leave enough time to concentrate on other projects.

โ€˜Iโ€™d love to be able to combine my writing and acting career in the future.

โ€˜Playing Sunita has been a fabulous opportunity. Iโ€™ve thoroughly enjoyed her journey and am looking forward with excitement to her dramatic departure.

โ€˜I shall miss her. That said, I have made a host of friends [in the] cast and crew โ€“ friendships that will stay with me.โ€™

๐๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ โ€œ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’‘๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† & ๐‘พ๐’†๐’ƒ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’†: ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘ .๐‘–๐‘›๐‘“๐‘œโ€ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ๐›๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง-๐๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฌ

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