I'm A Celebrity star Reverend Richard Coles' relationships after husband's death (2024)

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! star Reverend Richard Coles has gained a legion of new fans after signing up to the ITV reality series.

The Church of England priest has charmed viewers with his commitment to deceiving his fellow campmates, his unlikely friendship with Maura Higgins and his willingness to candidly speak about his sexuality with GK Barry.

The 62-year-old first found fame in the 80s synth-pop duo The Communards alongside Jimmy Somerville, with the pair achieving three UK top ten hits.

In recent years he’s hosted BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme, appeared on QI, Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News for You, as well as competing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017.

Despite his less than impressive abilities on the dancefloor, Richard endeared himself to viewers but did say it was a ‘brutal awakening’ discovering he was not talented at dancing.

Over the years Richard has also spoken openly about his private life, from growing up gay and the death of his husband.

What has Reverend Richard Coles said about his sexuality?

Richard first came out to his mother as gay aged 16 in 1978.

He played her Tom Robinson’s song Glad to Be Gay four times before she asked: ‘Darling, are you trying to tell me something?’

In subsequent years he experienced a ‘mental crisis’, which then saw him be diagnosed with clinical depression and attempt to take his own life.

On an episode of I’m A Celebrity earlier this week Richard, who was ordained in 2005, was asked by GK if he ‘found it difficult being gay and doing that job’.

‘No, not at all. I’ve never given it a moment’s twinge of anxiety over whether God thought it was alright or not. Whether other people thought it was alright or not, well I’m happy to have that argument…’ he shared.

‘Also, I was not the first. Sometimes I look at documents from the early church, or the church of the Middle Ages and I just think – so gay,’ he added.

Was Richard Coles married?

Two years after being ordained, Richard began a relationship with David Oldham, who was also an Anglican priest.

The pair met when David, who was then an A&E nurse, visited the vicar to seek advice about joining the clergy.

In 2010 they then entered into a civil partnership, which the Church of England had allowed clergy to do since 2005, with David taking on Richard’s surname.

At the time Richard said their relationship was celibate but later revealed this wasn’t the case however he’d had to promise that to be able to maintain his job as a vicar.

In 2019 Richard announced his partner had died aged 42, sharing on social media that his partner ‘had been ill for a while’.

Then, in 2021, Richard confirmed his husband had died from alcoholism, writing about his struggles in the book The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss.

‘It was really, really tough to see somebody you love destroy himself. It is like someone is drowning and you throw them a lifebelt but they are just not taking the lifebelt. And I did try everything I could think of to help him stop drinking, and in fairness to him he did try too, but it was too much for him,’ he wrote.

‘The second thing is, it is just very awkward, especially if you are a vicar and you are meant to be unflappable and perfect and my life was not and is not perfect and I wasn’t unflappable when David’s drinking was at its worst.’

After his drinking became so serious David lost his vicar licence from the bishop, his alcoholism led to liver damage, and he was found by Richard in their guest room holding onto a bucket of vomit and blood in December 2019.

As David’s condition worsened, the decision was made to turn off his oxygen.

In 2022 Richard announced he would be retiring as a parish priest in Finedon in Northamptonshire after 11 years and then moved to Sussex.

Although he said he didn’t want to leave the Church of England he ‘didn’t particularly want to have to uphold aspects of its life which I think are not consistent with our calling to truth and justice and human dignity’.

Is Richard Coles in a relationship now?

Richard has been dating actor Richard Cant for the past two years after they met on a dating app,

Richard, who goes by Dickie, has appeared on Midsomer Murders, Doctor Who, The Bill and It’s A Sin.

The reverend previously spoke about deciding to try online dating, saying: ‘I wanted to go on a website where I would meet someone who was not looking for a sugar daddy, who was my age, who lived in my sort of world, who I could share my life with.’

The couple’s first date was at the Royal Horticultural Society.

Opening up to Maura in the jungle, Richard revealed that he’s now been with Dickie for two years, explaining that he ‘didn’t see it coming’.

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1.

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