Skip to main content

Home News News World

7 September 2017

All the 2015 Attitude Awards celebrity gossip

By Nick Bond

The 2015 Attitude Awards in association with Virgin Holidays were held in a luxe ceremony at London’s The Banqueting House last night (October 15), and Team Attitude were on the red carpet, backstage and, yes, at the awards ceremony to bring you all the gossip. Our pals over at Lorraine were on the red carpet too, and you can watch Dan Wootton’s wrap-up of the event here.

Clean Bandit’s Neil Milan cleared up those split rumours:

Doing the most pop star of things and ignoring the black tie dress code, opting instead for a satin top – and looking impossibly handsome to boot. We asked Neil about the split rumours that emerged in the tabloids this week regarding he and his boyfriend, Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander. Olly’s on tour but Neil confirmed to us that they’re “still together.”

Split rumours were “something we hadn’t really thought about or expected, but I guess it’s inevitable. Our relationship is mainly for us.”

It’s been a great year for trans visibility, and we spoke to the gorgeous broadcaster Stephanie Hirst, who re-emerged after a self-imposed radio exile in which she transitioned this year.

“I had a year off to transition, but I was hungry – I needed to get back on the radio. It’s what I love,” she told us. “Everyone’s been so accepting, it’s amazing. We all possess the ability to accept people in life – we need to use it. I mean, I had a fear of being ostracised for years. I was going to kill myself. No-one deserves to die over this – I deserve to live.”

The wonderful Lorraine Kelly – now officially an ‘honourary gay’ – had to be rescued from a traffic island outside the ceremony by Attitude’s Deputy Editor Cliff Joannou. Don’t get hit by a bus, hun, we haven’t given you your award yet!

Alt-R&B-pop maven VV Brown delivered a showstopping performance, mashing up the 90s dance classic Show Me Love with a new track from her recently released third album, Glitch.

“I think this third album is much more connected to the second one – I’ve found my groove, my voice. [Debut album] Travelling Like The Light was great, but I was still finding myself and experimenting in the public eye. This third album is me. The fourth album won’t heavy metal!”

Dr Christian revealed a pretty hefty crush on our headline performer, Adam Lambert – and who could blame him:

Pic

James Hill and Austin Armacost got the ‘TV Moment of the Year’ gong for their bromance in the Celebrity Big Brother house:

“To see a heterosexual man and a gay guy live together in the same house for 28 days – in the same bed – was a big thing. We didn’t fall out once,” Austin told us.

“Well, we did once – a tiff. A lover’s tiff,” joked James.

“It would never happen in America, not for another ten years. Look at [James], he’s got his hair products and his tanning sprays – I’d always say, how are you gayer than the gay guy in the house?”

After party gossip: Austin was in full swing after the ceremony, crunking, twerking and dirty dancing across the dance floor with gusto. James walked past us and rolled his eyes with an affectionate sigh. “I am NOT dealing with this,” he said. Oh boys, never change x

Panti Bliss accepted the first award of the night – on behalf of the 1,201,607 people in Ireland who voted YES for marriage equality!

“I’m excited, but I can only be here for an hour because I have my show in Soho. I’ll get as much free booze into me as I can, then I’m off,” said Panti, who’s in for a busy few weeks as her documentary Queen of Ireland premieres soon.

“It’s very exciting to see myself on buses at home. I saw a rough cut of the film about two months ago, and I loved it – I haven’t asked to look at the final product. The director’s a fashion photographer, so I know he’s gonna make me look real pretty.”

Australian drag queen Courtney Act rocked up looking like the hot-goth lovechild of Debbie Harry and Tammy Wynette, and gave us her one award ceremony survival tip:

“Stay sober enough not to embarrass yourself.”

Courtney tells us about her frock: “This dress came from the wardrobe of a friend of mine, who’s a Hong Kong socialite. She’s this fabulous Chinese lady with an enormous wardrobe, and every time I visit her I try things on. I feel like a country star trying to look a lot younger than she is.”

We cornered our hostess with the mostess, the wonderful Ana Matronic (pictured below getting a selfie in between Yoko Ono and Vivienne Westwood – AMAZING), and asked her the question every Scissor Sisters fan is dying to know: Will they get back together? 

https://instagram.com/p/82sc6bN7p3/

“I don’t think that we can NOT come back and do another album and tour, I think there’s another one in us. There is so much magic with Scissors and I would not want to disappoint our fans and say goodbye forever. But Im working on a solo record at the moment, that’s much more electronic and dance-oriented than Scissors. It’s dare I say a little bit darker than Scissors – think more Invisible Light, less Take Your Mama. I was a Goth in high school, so I’m always wearing black lipstick on the inside.”

David Furnish was at his first Attitude Awards, there to present Reggie Yates with the Ally Award for his documentary Extreme Russia. Speaking of, what exactly is going on with David’s other half and President Putin?

“The last statement that was put out by the Kremlin was that Elton and Putin had spoken on the phone – and they did,” David told us. “The hoax happened, which was very elaborate, but the reality of it was it got the Kremlin’s attention and it pushed the issue back into the news. We got there in the end, and now let’s see what happens with a face to face meeting. We’ll only go forward in life if we have a dialogue.”

First award of the night went to Dame Vivienne Westwood, who proved one adage: icons run to their own schedules.

Delivering by far the longest speech of the night, Dame Vivienne spoke passionately about global warming, whales, globalisation, doctors, protest marches and everything in between. It was not your typical awards show speech – but Vivienne Westwood didn’t get to where she is by playing by the rules. Boy George had just one word to say to us as he dashed past, midway through: ‘GENIUS.’

Deadset legends Boy George and Marilyn made a rare public appearance together – and they were in fine form chatting to us on the red carpet. Marilyn even told us he was going commando for the evening!

“We do hang out a lot, we’ve always been friends,” Boy George told us.

“Except when we weren’t,” quips Marilyn.

“Most of the stuff we do together is normal stuff – go to Starbucks, that sort of thing.”

Imagine seeing those two nattering over a Pumpkin Spice Latte at your local Starbucks – honestly.

Sir Ian Mckellen, newly-out rugby player Keegan Hirst and Corrie fave Antony Cotton arrived arrived together – how’s that for a trio:

Keegan was quiet on the red carpet and let new pal Antony do most of the talking – Cotton told us “Keegan just met Lorraine and he’s thrilled!”

Sky Sports football pundit Mark McAdam, who came out in September 2014, on gay footballers:

“I was really surprised by the support I received from within football in terms of managers, players and fans. So I think that the platform’s there for someone when they feel they’ve got the courage to come out and talk about being gay then they should. I think there’s nothing to prove anymore. You look at all these other sports stars like Keegan and Sam Stanley and the support they’ve received has been pretty incredible. I think any footballer out there that’s scared about it or worried about it really has nothing to be scared about. I’m testament to coming out in that environment and I’ve had no problems. So a footballer I think just needs to change their mentality because we’re not in the Dark Ages anymore – this is 2015 and things are so different. People are so much more accepting of gay professional sportsmen and women. I think it’s only a matter of time.”

Our new Attitude Awards issue, with all our amazing winners, is on sale now – with eight collectable covers. Get it in shops or order a print copy from newsstand.co.uk, or download a digital copy from attitudedigital.co.uk.

AWARDS COVERS

In This Article: