OPENING UP Coronation Street actress reveals she was secretly married to a man four years ago before publicly coming out as gay

A CORONATION Street actress has revealed she was secretly married to a man four years ago, before publicly coming out as gay.

Farrel Hegarty, 38, who is best known for playing Corrie’s Lou Michaelis has opened up about her sexuality in a new interview.

Speaking to Attitude Magazine, Farrel talked about how she was once secretly married to a man.

“God, I’ve never said this on, I’ve never said this before. I was only with a guy for a long time. I ended up marrying him, and then I quickly got divorced,” the actress said.

“And then it was only after that where I was like, ‘Okay, well, who do I wanna date? Men and women?’

“And then the men just never happened for me again. And I was just like, and that was, like, four years, four and a half years ago.”

Continuing, the actress said: “And so for me, I’ve kind of, like, stepped back in … If I feel like I’ve, like, came out, kind of half went back in again, and I’ve come out again.

“So for me, the, the, the queer content thing, if I’m being honest, getting raw now, is, like, that I’m, don’t know if I’m worthy of it yet.

“It’s only when I’ve looked at myself a bit, I’m like, ‘Why am I not, why am I a bit nervous about putting that out there?’

“And I’m like, ‘Oh’, I described it as, like, can you, have you got a place at the table yet?”

Meanwhile, Farrel recently revealed that her role on Corrie had come to an end.

“I’m out of the show now. I’ve stopped filming,” she told fans in March.

“I came back in Corrie for, like, a short stint.

“I was in it for six months and I came back because I’m [her character is] in prison.

“She’s in prison. She’s not a good girl”.

Previously, the actress told how her part had already been compared to legendary battle axes such as Janice Battersby, who was played by Vicky Entwistle.

“Lou is gobby, loud, irrational and it’s lovely to be compared to such a big character, like Janice Battersby,” she admitted to The Mirror.

Her character first quit last summer, then returned for a brief period before bidding her final farewell.

Ahead of their debut, her character Lou and on-screen husband Mick had been billed as the soap’s new “nightmare neighbours“.

This was mainly due to Mick brutally killing popular cop Craig Tinker last year.

Viewers also learned about the complicated past between the couple and police detective Kit Green.

Lou and Kit had a secret fling years ago – resulting in the birth of her now-teenage son Brody.

The actress revealed she had intended to move to Australia before landing the role in Coronation Street.

Farrel previously told The Mirror: “Watching the other actors is like a masterclass in acting.

“When I do film my final scenes, I’ll probably cry.”