Coronation Street star Kimberly Hart-Simpson reveals she’s bisexual on live TV
Kimberly Hart-Simpson revealed that she is bisexual on Good Morning Britain. (ITV)
Coronation Street newcomer Kimberly Hart-Simpson, who plays sex worker Nicky on the ITV soap, has revealed she is bisexual.
Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on Good Morning Britain on Thursday, June 25, Hart-Simpson was discussing how she had made a Pride-themed dress for her best friend and former Hollyoaks star Jessica Ellis to wear on the red carpet.
Hart-Simpson has a clothing brand called Hart-Work which up-cycles clothing to save it from landfill.
She said of the rainbow dress: “This was the discovery of when I was starting to learn to sew, so she put a lot of trust in me to do that.”
Opening up about being bisexual, the Coronation Street star added: “It was during Pride Month, so it was really important, we were representing the LGBT+ community and I’m part of that as well.
“I represent the B. So for me to do that was really, really important.”
Kelly told her: “I love that you’re part of the community because, you know what, that’s what we need. More visibility.
“It makes all the difference in the world, love, it really does.”
Hart-Simpson also described how she had spent a decade auditioning for Coronation Street before she was given the role, in memory of her late father.
She told Kelly: “I remember getting the job, I got the call and I was in a basement and I fell to the floor… I was crying.”
On her first day on set, she added: “It’s been 10 years in the making, the first day was so weird, I was quite calm.
“You’re around legends, but I felt quite like I belong [here].”
This year, LGBT+ rights campaigners praised Coronation Street for a storyline following a young, gay footballer who is outed online.
The storyline followed the character of rising football star James Bailey, played by Nathan Graham, as he balanced his football career with his sexuality, before being outed on social media.
At the time, there were no openly gay footballers playing for the England’s professional men’s league. Since then, Thomas Beattie has come out as gay.
Beattie became the first major male English footballer to do so since Justin Fashanu in 1990, who took his own life after coming out.
