Carson comes clean: 'I didn't tell my parents I was gay until Queer Eye'

Carson Kressley. Photo / Getty

He's been out and proud to the public since day one - but in an episode of I'm A Celeb, Carson Kressley confesses that his parents were the very last people he told about his sexuality.

In fact, the colourful celeb style guru delayed telling them until the very last minute, coming out just days from the 2003 premiere of his hit TV show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

"We were going to be on the cover of TV guide - I knew it was coming out on a Tuesday - for the premiere of the show. I told them I was doing this new show and they were like 'What's it called?' I'm like, 'It doesn't have a name yet, it's the untitled makeover show,'" he recalls.

"Literally the weekend before the TV guide was coming out with us on the cover and the show's name, I had to tell them."

It was driving in the car with his mother that Kressley, then 34 years old, finally plucked up the courage.

I said 'The show that I'm doing is called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'.

She said, 'Let me guess, you're not the straight guy? Yeah. We kind of knew.' It was not a big news flash at my house," he laughs.

On the show I'm A Celeb, Kressley also opens up to his campmates about the bullying he suffered as a young gay person, including frequent physical violence at school - often in class.

"The thing that's especially difficult for gay kids: You go home and you're afraid to tell anyone, because you're afraid nobody will love you."