Comedian Alan Carr says he still has ‘guilt’ about being gay

Comedian Alan Carr has said he still has guilt about being gay.

The Chatty Man host made the revelation in an interview with Radio 4’s Front Row programme as part of the show’s Queer Icon series.

The 41-year-old discussed J R Ackerley’s book My Father and Myself.

He said: “It’s a memoir… he was a full, out homosexual when it was illegal. He really didn’t care. And he wrote about it. He was born in 1896 and died in 1967. I found it really refreshing because you read a lot of gay stuff from the 60s and there’s hang-ups and depression and all, but he doesn’t care.”

Of Acklerley, Carr said: “He’s so promiscuous. He admits he had 200, 300 lovers.

“He’s so matter-of-fact, his homosexuality. Whereas I have a bit of guilt about it. I’m not totally comfortable being gay, but he’s so… he absolutely loves it. And for all the promiscuity about him, he’s very honest, because it starts out as an exploration of his relationship with his own father.

“You find out that the father actually had gay affairs himself.”

The comedian went on to talk about his relationship with his own father, saying: “I mean, I remember when I came out it was really hard and awkward and uncomfortable. My dad was, and still is, is involved in football. He’s a football manager, this tough-talking Geordie, there’s no homosexuality ever in the family tree and then I came along.”

The series is to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.

Carr last year announced his engagement to his boyfriend Paul Drayton – and said close friend Adele will sing at his wedding.

However, Carr may have to wait in line, after the superstar singer promised to sing at another same-sex wedding earlier that year.

During a concert in LA back in August, she promised to perform – free of charge – for a gay couple who she pulled onstage between performances.

Carr in 2014 dismissed criticism of his new advertising campaign for animal charity PETA by saying: “Don’t worry Twitter they’ll be another bandwagon you can jump on in a minute.”

The Chatty Man presenter reacted furiously to suggestions that his new ad for PETA showed gay men in a stereotyped light.