JOE Lycett has surprised fans by revealing he has become a father for the first time.
It’s thought the comedian, 36, welcomed his son with his secret girlfriend, who he calls Denise.
Secret girlfriend
The TV star has famously kept his romances underwraps over the years, but just recently shed a little light on the mystery woman in his life.
Speaking on Bimini Bon-Boulash’s podcast The Pieces, Joe revealed: “So I’ve got Winston the cat, and my partner Denise. And, um, she’s not called Denise, but I don’t talk about her, because she has a job that she can’t be in the public eye.
“I call her Denise because she hates the name Denise, so, uh, I live with Denise.”
Joe first revealed he had found love when his popular TV show Late Night Lycett return to telly in April for a new series.
Opening the show, he said: “A lot has changed since the last series, I’ve got some news which is that I have a girlfriend.
“I’ve talked about being bisexual for years but people presume I’m homosexual based on my entire personality…yes I’ve got a girlfriend and people have been very nice about it.”
Being pansexual
On the podcast, he revealed that people are often surprised he is with a woman, as he opened up about being pansexual.
He explained: “Well, it’s interesting now being in a long-term relationship with a woman because loads of people are like, sorry what? There was a brief period when I was at school when I thought because I was attracted to men, I was gay, and then I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on.’
“Then I use the term bisexual when anyone asks and I just want to give a quick answer because people understand that.
“But I think the most accurate way of describing myself is pansexual, in that I’m not attracted to people, just because of their gender.
He continued : “Yeah, it doesn’t matter what the gender or whatever. And I don’t know why that is, but that is how it is. It’s a strange one because to me that suggests that sexuality is not just man, woman.’
“So the intellectual side of me goes it’s pansexual, which means all. So, that’s how I feel about myself.”
He added: “And I don’t really care what anyone else thinks about it these days, because I just think it’s nothing to do with you.”
Joe says fan assume he is gay because he is camp on telly[/caption]
The star went on to reveal how he feels about people assuming he’s gay, explaining: “But I do think it’s interesting. A few years into a relationship with a woman and going like, I am a straight man now, that dresses like this.
“I am still struggling with it in different ways of course. And particularly because lots of people just presume I’m gay because I’m camp on telly.”
What is pansexuality?
The word comes from the Greek prefix “pan”, which means “all”.
Its first use has been traced back to neurologist Sigmund Freud, who defined it as: “the pervasion of all conduct and experience with sexual emotions”.
In simpler terms, pansexuality is a person’s attraction to people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Pansexuals are “gender blind”, meaning they don’t let gender or sex affect their attraction to others.
Just like bisexuality, pansexuals are sexually attracted to men and women.
But the key difference is that pansexual people tend to consider themselves as more “gender fluid”.
They may also be drawn to those who identify as intersex, third-gender, androgynous or transgender.
