Big Brother winner Ali Bromley opens up about coming out later in life after marrying a man
Ali Bromley made history as Big Brother’s first ever out lesbian winner. (ITV)
Big Brother’s newest, history-making winner Ali Bromley has spoken out about how a lack of LGBTQ+ representation prevented her from realising that she’s a lesbian.
The 38-year-old forensic psychologist stormed into first place during the live final on Friday (15 November), becoming the first ever out lesbian housemate to win Big Brother in its near 25-year history.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, the self-proclaimed “late-in-life lesbian” explained that, if she had seen more lesbians on TV when she was younger, she may have realised she was gay sooner.
“If I had lesbian representation in my younger years, that would have made a huge difference for me,” she explained.
“I don’t know if they’ve aired all of what I said but I did have a conversation with housemates about compulsive heterosexuality and how that was for me and maybe not even necessarily realising that I was queer, at some point thinking that I was bisexual.”
Compulsive heterosexuality, also known as comphet, is a phrase coined by lesbian feminist Adrienne Rich in the 1980s. It refers to the assumption that women are innately heterosexual, and therefore have heterosexual ideals enforced upon them by patriarchal, heteronormative society.
Queer women who experience compulsive heterosexuality may subconsciously push away feelings of queerness and perform straightness in order to appease expectations placed on them.
During her time on the show, Ali – who won with a landslide 51.9 per cent of the vote out of the final eight housemates – opened up about previously being married to a man.
“If I had been able to see someone like me talking about how I feel and my experiences, I might have clocked on a bit sooner actually. I think it was aired that I’ve been married to a man in the past, so it probably could’ve saved myself a bit of heartache to be honest there,” she told PinkNews.
While Ali’s stint in the Big Brother house was consumed by conflicts with other housemates, particularly runner-up Marcello Spooks, she did get a chance to educate her fellow housemates on the different types of lesbian.
During one day earlier on in the series, she also wore a “Trans Rights Are Human Rights” t-shirt.
“Big Brother since the beginning of time has not been afraid to show people like us. Maybe there hasn’t been quite enough lesbians but you know, we’re getting there,” she explained.
“It was really nice to have the opportunity to have those conversations about being queer, about being lesbian specifically, about the different terminology because I think actually, it’s fine not to know how different communities move and work and how we talk about ourselves.
“What’s really lovely is genuine curiosity that comes without judgement and wanting to learn and wanting to understand.”
Big Brother is available to stream on ITV.
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