Coming out was hard, says Betty Kitten Ross

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Jonathan Ross’ daughter Betty Kitten Ross says that coming out as a lesbian was hard but her family were “totally cool” with it.

The 19-year-old was speaking after her father revealed she was a lesbian on Gaydar Radio.

Betty Kitten wrote on Formspring: “It was sort of hard. It’s just always difficult. I think just generally coming out is hard but luckily my parents and siblings and friends were all totally cool with it.

“I came out as bi first and was saying I was bi for a while, then came out as gay… but first only to my siblings and then properly to everyone, so it was fairly spread out over a long time period.

“It was difficult to an extent because I had two people that said things to me that made me never want to come out, so I was really worried about telling people I was close to in case they reacted the same way.

“Of course, all the people I really cared about were nothing but accepting and happy for me, so it wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be.”

Her mother, the screenwriter Jane Goldman, said she did not want publicity

“Young people feel very afraid to come out,” Goldman said.

“Betty does not want attention but she is very socially conscious and if her being unafraid about her sexuality helps someone else, she would be very pleased.”

She added: “Jonathan was not making a statement, he was asked a question and answered honestly, as he always does.”

She said the family had known “for ages” that Betty, a student, was gay and had never tried to hide it.

Ross told Gaydar Radio on Tuesday that his children’s sexuality was “none of my business”.