‘I’m not gay’: Military Wives choirmaster

TV CHOIRMASTER Gareth Malone has branded rumours that he is gay as “juvenile”, saying that life in the limelight is like returning to the school playground.

The Military Wives star, who is married and has a daughter, said he was almost used to the assumptions about his sexuality.

But he said: “It was slightly disappointing to find that after leaving school, and leaving all that behind me from the age of about 15 to 30, and then coming into television and discovering, ‘Oh right, everyone is just as juvenile as the kids at school were’.

“I am fairly flamboyant and expressive,” he added, “But I know plenty of gay people who are incredibly repressed and aren’t showy and don’t like Judy Garland, you know.”

The star, whose Military Wives choir beat the X Factor single to the Christmas No.1 in the music charts, said he had often heard comments such as “it’s a bit gay”, and “singing makes you gay” from men who were reluctant to join choirs.