Ian 'H' Watkins
3 January 2007 was a big day for Ian H Watkins. First, he 'came out' in The Sun and then he entered Celebrity Big Brother.
The Sun reported: "Ian, 30, hid the fact he was gay from fans — even while having a ten-year affair with Steps' male manager."
Ian Watkins, who was born on 8 May 1976 in Wales, was best known as H in Steps, which also featured Lisa Scott-Lee.
Steps had 12 consecutive UK top five singles, but split in 2001. H began recording with Claire from Steps, but decided instead to become, as he told Celebrity Big Brother, "a jobbing actor".
After retraining as an actor at New York's Stella Adler School and London's Royal Academy of Music, Ian Watkins took a role on the radio drama Silver Street.
Like 2006's Celebrity Big Brother runner-up, Michael Barrymore, Ian Watkins was a Butlins Redcoat before becoming famous.
When Ian Watkins was playing in Joseph And The Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat, he told London Theatre Guide:
"I think unless you are happy with yourself, you’ll never be happy with fame really. I don't hang around in celebrity bars ..."
According to the BBC, Ian Watkins has a rare sleeping illness called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS).
Whilst in Celebrity Big Brother Ian Watkins mentioned how he met Madonna and J-Lo and how he enjoyed having a diary column in teen magazines like Smash Hits.
Ian Watkins ended up fourth in Celebrity Big Brother 2007.
In March 2007, Ian Watkins gave a workshop to children at the Bedazzle Performing Arts Schools.
In May 2007, Ian Watkins commenced his run as Nick in the musical Fame in London's Shaftesbury Theatre.
In March 2008, Ian 'H' Watkins, in a personal account for BBC Wales, entitled Week In Week Out, spoke of the "complete nightmare" of growing up gay in south Wales.
