COACH Trip star Brendan Sheerin has opened up about how he had to hide his gay relationship for fear of being arrested.
The openly gay tour guide, 60, was in a relationship with his partner for 25 years before he passed away several years ago.
As the age of consent was different for same-sex relationships to opposite-sex until 2001, Brendan had to keep the relationship under wraps.
But now he’s happy the younger generation are able to live their lives with less fear.
Brendan told The Mirror: “I had a lovely relationship with Les and we were together for 25 years.
“We lived together in L’Estartit on the Costa Brava for a long time.
“In the early days it was a bit dark because you had to be 21 to have a gay relationship.”
The tour guide adds: “It does my heart good to see two boys holding hands. A while ago I was on Regent Street and I saw these two boys and they saw me looking.
“I said, ‘Do you know I would have been arrested for doing that when I was young?'”
“They just said, ‘Thank you for standing up for gay rights’, because they know the older generation paved the way for the younger one. So it gladdens my heart.”
Brendan will be leading another pack of stars around Europe with the newest series of Celebrity Coach Trip starting on Monday, October 7.
The series sees celebrities travel around in a coach to various locations and voting to eliminate the least popular pairing.
Queen of the Jungle Vicky Pattison is joining the adventure alongside former Love Island star Scott Thomas.
Vicky said at the time of the announcement: “SO HAPPY I CAN FINALLY ANNOUNCE THAT I TOOK PART IN THIS YEAR’s Celebrity @coachtripofficial!!!! And even more exciting than that I did it with my @loveisland bestie @scottyspecial!!!!
“My fellow coach trippers are all amazing guys and I literally made friends for life!! Can’t wait for you to see our adventure with Brendan the Legend!!!”
Love Island 2018 stars Georgia Steel and Alexandra Cane are on the show, as Virgin Radio presenter Kate Lawler and her friend Arron Crascall.
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