Byker Grove’s Andrew Hayden-Smith was forced to come out as gay before it was revealed in the press.
The 40-year-old actor – who is known for TV shows such as Doctor Who, Hollyoaks and Banana – is in a long-term relationship with boyfriend Dan Maton, and snaps on his Instagram show them looking happy and carefree as they enjoy holidays and walks in the woods with their dog. But in 2018, Andrew revealed in a chat with QX magazine that he came out publicly at 21 because a newspaper was going to run a story about his sexuality.
The star was a TV presenter at the time, and after he discovered that the fact he was gay was going to be in a story he decided to speak out himself in a magazine.
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“I was a presenter on CBBC at the time,” he said. “We got a call from a newspaper saying they were gonna do a story on it.
(Image: Getty Images)
“And my boss was like, ‘We’ve just had this phone call… do you wanna just do it yourself in Attitude and get it over with?’ So I did it, and then nothing more was said about it. It was great.”
Andrew said the response was “honestly fine” after he came out publicly. He also said that he received a lot of nice letters from parents of the children who watched him on CBBC.
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
“I think the press can sometimes make celebrities coming out seem like a bigger deal than it is,” he said. “Most people really don’t care. And these days there are loads of gay presenters!”
Andrew got his big break in Byker Grove in 1996, when he was cast as the character Ben Carter. He stayed on the programme for several series before going on to other programmes such as Banana and Doctor Who, where he had a guest role as Jake Simmonds.
(Image: @andrewhaydensmith /Instagram)
He was on CBBC from 2002 to 2006, working as a presenter, and in 2016 he landed the role of DS Armstrong in Hollyoaks.
The officer was the chief inspector looking into the murder of Patrick Blake (who was played by Jeremy Sheffield) and Andrew ended up making dozens of appearances in the Channel 4 soap between then and 2017.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
