Miss Great Britain star comes out as bisexual & says she liked women while watching female wrestlers as a child
MISS Great Britain Jen Atkin has revealed she is bisexual — the first winner to come out.
Jen, 27, said she has been attracted to girls since she was a teen but nearly married a guy.
She recalled: “I watched wrestling with my brother and I was obsessed with the divas in their tiny shorts. I would also fancy his girlfriends which is something I’ve never admitted before.”
She initially thought she was a lesbian after dating a female neighbour when she was 14. But she later started seeing men too, and got engaged to one at 22 before they split.
Jen then met her first serious girlfriend at a Manchester gay bar. She said: “I thought, ‘I need to tell my parents. I need to tell my friends because I’ve met someone I really like and it’s a woman and they might not understand’. I rang my mum. She was totally fine about it.”
Jen, an aviation administrator from Cleethorpes, shed 8st in two years before winning Miss Lincolnshire in 2019.
She was then crowned Miss Great Britain last February — and wants to use her title to help fight misconceptions.
She said: “People see me as this stereotype, being Miss Great Britain in massive heels and a little pink dress. But things aren’t always as they appear.”
She gets infuriated at blokes talking about threesomes after she opens up about her sexuality.
She said: “It is hurtful. I could meet the woman of my dreams tomorrow and be with her for the rest of my life happily. But guys just have this porn image in their head. Just because I’m bi that doesn’t mean I want a threesome with everyone.”
Jen sees little difference in the sexes when it comes to dating, and cheesy chat-up lines on Tinder are just as bad from women as men.
She says of her sexuality: “It just means that I have more options when it comes to relationships.”
She would be “thrilled” if pop star Rita Ora or Love Islander Megan Barton Hanson slid into her DMs. Male celeb crushes include funnyman Jonah Hill, Man Vs Food’s Adam Richman and rugby star Danny Cipriani.
Jen hopes her revelation — the first from a winner in the beauty pageant’s 75-year history — will not affect how she is treated in future contests.
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She said: “Just because I’m in a pageant with 50 other girls doesn’t mean I’m going to fancy all 50 and start trying it on with them.”
Her reign as Miss Great Britain has been extended to September because of the Covid pandemic.
She hopes her coming out — coinciding with LGBTQ+ history month — can encourage others. She said: “Even if it helps one person to open up to family or friends, it’d be such a good thing.”
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