Coronation Street icon 'convinced she'd have been sacked' if secret was exposed (2025)

Star Amanda Barrie realised she was bisexual while on the ITV soap but refused to tell anyone

Coronation Street star Amanda Barrie opened up about her fear of being "booted off" the ITV soap if her sexuality was exposed during her long stint.

The 89-year-old actress played Alma Halliwell, the wife of factory owner Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs), in the ITV soap on and off from 1981 until her alter ego's death from cervical cancer in 2001.

Alma divorced her first husband Jim Sedgewick in 1982 after he ran off with a florist and got the café as part of the settlement. Alma then sold 40% of the business to Gail Platt - then Gail Tilsley - and the pair ran the café successfully until 1997 when Alma sold her share to Roy Cropper.

Alma then soon set her sights on Mike Baldwin and they were on and off for several years. It was in 1992 that he persuaded her that they should get married but she later divorced him following his one-night-stand with Julia Stone.

She announced that she knew she was bisexual while on the show, but refused to say anything as she worried that some cast members at the time would have "refused" to work alongside her.

In 2003, Amanda came out publicly and later married crime novelist Hilary Bonner in 2014.

Reflecting on her experience, Amanda shared with Best magazine: "It would never have been a big deal with me in any sort of a way, but I was convinced I would have got the sack from Coronation Street if I'd been exposed.

"There would have been people in the cast at that time who would have said, 'I'm not working with her.' I will not name or shame them, but that's how it was."

Amanda was first married to the late actor Robin Hunter for 20 years, and although the pair separated they never divorced. She continued: "My now wife, Hilary, 76, was a journalist and writer, and from the moment we met, I told her if anything happens between us, you won't be able to just bounce into a room - things will be very different.

"We both had been married before to men, yet when we got together, she didn't have to go through anything like that. It almost became fashionable."

With turning 90-years-old this September, Amanda admitted that she thinks Hilary may throw her a surprise birthday bash. She shared: "She gives a party at the drop of a hat. She does surprise parties, and she's very good at it. If she does throw me one, the shock might kill me (laughs)!"

Asked if she has any health hacks to keep on living to a good age, Amanda shared: "I've never been good at looking after myself. I have always got through everything because on stage you just do. You pretend you're alright, and by the time you come off, you often are."