EastEnders star Pam St Clement opens up about bisexuality

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EastEnders actress Pam St Clement has opened up about her bisexuality, and cheating on her husband with a woman.

The bisexual soap star, who played Pat Butcher on the long-running show until 2012, revealed details of her usually closely-guarded private life in her new autobiography.

In an extract released in the Mirror, the actress reveals she cheated on her husband during a 1975 world tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

She said: “The distance allowed me an objective view of my marriage – especially after we landed in Sydney. It was a pretty gay city even then, a mecca of fun and outrageous alternativeness.

“And I fell, not for some bush-whacking hunk, but for a woman. It was a time of discovery and abandon, of excitement and freedom. I wanted to woo and be wooed and felt no guilt.

“That month in Sydney went all too quickly and we were soon saying our farewells at the airport with promises of reunions back in the UK. I nearly missed the plane, I was so bereft at leaving.”

The star later split from her husband – and found herself in a relationship with another woman.

She said: “I fell for an attractive woman who was intelligent, witty and fun to be with. Diana and I settled into a happy and stable ­relationship.

“Looking back, I wonder if I should have stayed on my own. I want to love and be loved but I am fiercely independent.

“But this was a relationship I couldn’t resist. It was a new experience, exciting and different in every way. We had our own professions but made a home together.

“Our life together was not destined to last.”

She also discusses her involvement in founding gay rights group Stonewall, alongside fellow EastEnders star Michael Cashman – now Labour peer Lord Cashman – and campaigning for equality.

She said: “I’ve never been a rabid party-political person, but striving for justice and fairness for all seems logical.”

The new autobiography, The End of an Earring, is out on February 12.

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