Mary Portas hasn’t labelled her sexuality but feels other people want her to "belong to a tribe".
The 59-year-old retail consultant – who was married to Graham Portas and recently split from her wife Melanie Rickey after 17 years together – is unsure whether she is a "gay woman" because her estranged spouse is the only female she’s ever loved, but she still wants to be a "voice of support" for the LGBTQ community.
In an interview with the Times newspaper, she said: "If I’m honest, am I a gay woman? I’ve been in love with two men and one woman. What does that make me?
"But people want you to belong to a tribe. The minute I fell in love with Melanie it was like ‘Right Diva magazine wants to write about you’ and you don’t want to say no because you want to be a voice of support for a minority groups"
The broadcaster went on to explain that "it all comes down to love" and she still feels affection for her ex-husband Graham, despite falling for a woman.
She said: "It all comes down to love but when I met Melanie people were like ‘Weren’t you always gay’ It was as if I’d written off the love I’d previously had in my marriage.
"No! I rang my ex-husband to tell him that wasn’t the cast but he said ‘You don’t need to’. He knew I loved him. "
Mary – who has daughter Verity, 23, and son Mylo, 25, with her former husband – may not be romantically involved with Graham, who has remarried, any more but she still loves spending time with him.
She said:"Recently, verity graduated from Oxford and all of us were there together, Graham, his wife, Mel and I.
"We all stayed overnight in the hotel, we had breakfast together, had dinner with Verity. It was just magical. Love comes in many forms. "
Mary Portas won’t label her sexuality
