The Traitors' icon Diane Carson is arguably one the biggest stars to come out of 2024 so far (sorry Islanders, we don't need you, we have Diane now); so much so, that frankly, we can't remember life without her. We certainly don't remember nights out without a fizzy rosé.
Since gracing our screens in January 2024 as our ultimate Faithful queen on the second series of The Traitors, the retired teacher from Northern Ireland has speedily become one of the biggest names in British telly and top of everyone's guest list, including London's Mighty Hoopla Festival, the UK's most inclusive festival; one hugely popular with the LGBTQ+ community.
As a gay man and a working drag queen called Beary Poppins (take a look - cheeky RuPaul wink), I can tell you Diane has fast gone from Queen of the Faithfuls to Queen of the Queer Allies. We love a fierce, quick witted hun with a camp beverage in hand, and Diane just ticked far to many boxes for us to ignore her.
Diane was even invited to introduce B*Witched to the stage at this year's Mighty Hoopla and the cheer of the crowd spoke volumes (literally).
Naturally, when we recently caught up one-on-one with Diane about her recent collaboration with Ecover, we had to ask her if she wanted to share any words with her LGBTQ+ fans this Pride Month and grab your tissues, because it's safe to say Mother has our back.
Diane exclusively told heatworld, "Well, one, I can't believe that they're my fans, but that's very lovely, because it is a very specific group and that's absolutely incredible. But the one thing is, you know, what I liked at Mighty Hoopla was everybody was there just being themselves. There was not one person that, from what I saw, was feeling awkward or whatever; you know, and they were wearing whatever they wanted to.
"People were coming up to me showing me them dressed up as me – which is unusual – at different parties that they had been to and they were so excited, and I was like, 'Oh my God, you feel quite at home to come and say that to me.'"
The Traitors star continued, "I've learned in my life, a famous Scottish person, William Wallace, once said, 'You can take my life, but you can't take my freedom.' And that's one thing I've learned; don't let anybody ever take your freedom. The one second you have to change for somebody to like you, whether it's your partner, your friends...once you have to change the internal soul of yourself, forget it...once somebody starts to clip your wings, don't bother, honestly, because nobody has the right to clip your wings."
She concluded by saying, "Be yourself. So don't let anybody clip your wings. Retain your freedom and retain who you are. Those are my thoughts."
Happy Pride Month, from me, heatworld and our Faithful Queen, Diane.
Ecover, a pioneer of the cleaning world, is helping the nation come clean with the help of The Traitors star, Diane Carson, on its mission to tackle the dirty side of cleaning for the good of the planet.
Inspired by the 78%of Brits who desire a less wasteful lifestyle, Ecover’s latest campaign Let’s Come Clean and laundry capsule range encourages consumers to air their dirty laundry and come clean together.