British Soap Opera Legend Shobna Gulati Comes Out as Nonbinary at 58

Proving that there’s no age limit on coming out, British actor and soap opera legend Shobna Gulati came out as nonbinary recently at the age of 58, explaining that the younger generation finally gave them the language to express things about themselves that they always knew but could never put into words. Speaking on the How to Be 60 podcast—which is hosted by Kaye Adams, Gulati’s former co-panelist from the talkshow Loose Women—(as reported on by PinkNews) Gulati came out, saying, “I’ve become more happy describing myself as a person. What do people call it now … nonbinary. So, I suppose that’s who I am.”

Gulati, who uses she/they pronouns, continued by saying, “I’ve never had a word for it, but I’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.”

Gulati went on to explain that their masculine and feminine sides are something that their family has just come to accept. “All the way through my life, I’ve never had the words for that and I’ve never managed to explain that, and I suppose my immediate family have not really thought about it,” the actor continued.

“They’ve just thought: ‘Shobna is either extremely feminine or extremely masculine,’” Gulati went on to say. “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.”

Far from the perception that only young people have identities within the LGBTQ+ spectrum, many members of older generations have proven that they’ve always had these identities and have never had the language to properly express themselves. May Gulati be a shining example that the community is open to anyone of any age, and that it’s never too late to find yourself.

Photo by Tom Barker on Instagram