ITV Coronation Street’s Shobna Gulati, 58, comes out as non-binary in rare relationship admission
Former Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati has come out as non-binary at the age of 58.
The actor, who played Sunita Alahan in the ITV soap for 12 years, revealed their gender identity during an appearance on Kaye Adams’ How To Be 60 podcast.
Gulati, who now uses she/they pronouns on social media, explained they have felt this way throughout their life but only recently discovered the terminology to describe it.
The revelation comes as the star opened up about their personal journey and understanding of their identity.
Speaking to Kaye Adams, Gulati said: “I’ve become more happy describing myself as a person. What do people call it now? Non-binary. So, I suppose that’s who I am.”
“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,” they added.
The actor explained that their family had simply accepted their nature without labels.
“They’ve just thought: ‘Shobna is either extremely feminine or extremely masculine.’ 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.”
Gulati shared that their understanding of being non-binary became clearer after a conversation with a sound engineer on a project.
“The sound person said to me that they were non-binary, and I said: ‘What is that?’ So, then they explained, and I thought, ‘Well, I feel like that, but I didn’t ever have that vocabulary,'” they recalled.
The actor also reflected on pressures they faced growing up to appear more traditionally feminine.
“My father would say things like: ‘Oh, you haven’t dressed up today.’ He’d make comments along the way… ‘I walk like a boy,'” they said.
“Lots of people tell me I walk like a boy, and I do. It’s just who I am, and I’m happy in that now.”
In the interview, Gulati also opened up about their love life, revealing they believe they have “loved their new partner all their life”.
Despite this current relationship, they remain open to dating people regardless of gender identity.
“That is also something I’m looking at – what that means to me. So yes, I would go for a person absolutely, regardless of their gender,” they said.
The star has previously been married to architect Anshu Srivastava, with the couple divorcing in 1994.
Gulati has a 30-year-old son, Akshay, and has also dated Emmerdale actor Gary Turner for four years during their time on Coronation Street.
Gulati first gained widespread recognition in the late 1990s for their role as Anita in BBC comedy Dinnerladies before joining Coronation Street.
Their time on the soap was not without challenges, with Gulati previously revealing: “Corrie fame made me a recluse. When I handed in my resignation, I knew it was the right thing.”
The actor has spoken openly about experiencing severe depression during their career, requiring the assistance of two counsellors.
Last year, Gulati was made an MBE for services to the cultural industries.
The star’s character Sunita was killed off in 2013, but Gulati has remained in the public eye since leaving the soap.