X Factor rap star Honey G reveals she is gay as she strips off in first ever nude shoot

HONEY G strips off for a sexy photo shoot to tell the world: “I am lesbian.”

X Factor’s rap queen has decided to come out in the Bizarre column today while revealing her dramatic new image and love for “feminine women” like QUEEN LATIFAH and DAME KELLY HOLMES.

In an exclusive interview, she tells me: “I have dabbled with men before, but I’m gay and looking for a female partner that I want to settle down with.”

The former recruitment boss – whose real name is Anna Gilford – says her first time with a woman was when she was 16 as she “started to experiment”.

But she also had relationships with men, explaining: “I have been with men in the past. But after I had my second experience with a woman I decided that I wanted to be with women.

“I was in the process of kind of deciding if I was going to stay with the boyfriend that I had at the time.

“I was DJing in Ayia Napa and I met someone out there and that was the turning point.

“I didn’t have real girlfriends until I finished university.”

Honey, who is 36, says her close friends and family know about her sexuality, but she wasn’t ready to speak about it during her controversial stint on SIMON COWELL’s reality show.

She explains: “I just wasn’t ready to come out to the public, you know?

“One of questions that Simon asked me in that first audition was, ‘Have I got as boyfriend?’ And I was a bit defensive at the time because I was just like, ‘No, I’m single.’”

“Obviously I get worried about homophobia because there are a lot of homophobic people out there. They might not like it. So I was worried about that.”

SHARON OSBOURNE – her mentor on the show – helped her stay private.

Honey explains: “She was always very protective of me when we had interviews together and they would ask me about it.

“She would step in say something about her being bisexual. It was hilarious.”

Honey recently turned down the opportunity to reveal her sexuality on Channel 4 dating show Celebrity First Dates, saying: “I didn’t want to come out that way. I would rather do it this way.”

By being open about her sexuality, she hopes to find a woman to marry and start a family with.

Honey says: “I have been very maternal the whole of my life. I have wanted kids since I was 19.

“But I don’t just want to have kids on my own. I want to make sure that I’m with someone in a long-term serious relationship.”

Honey G says her type is “the more feminine type woman”, with her ultimate celebrity crush being US rapper QUEEN LATIFAH .

She says excitedly: “I’ve had a thing for her for f***ing ages. Literally. She’s an A-list celebrity so how can I get anywhere near her, do you know what I mean?”

She also fancies FLEUR EAST (“good looking”), JENNIFER ANISTON (“absolutely stunning”), DAME KELLY HOLMES (“I love someone sporty”) and JOHANNA KONTA (“very pretty”).

And on X Factor judge NICOLE SCHERZINGER she says: “Obviously Nicole is very attractive and she’s got an amazing body.

“But obviously I know that she’s straight, we never really sat down and got to know each other.”

In fact, Honey says she is not specifically looking for a famous partner but adds: “Obviously, it would be exciting to be paired up with a celebrity, of course. That would be really exciting.”

But she is hoping coming out today will make it easier to find someone because she won’t use apps like Tinder.

She says: “I can’t go on an online dating site now. It would just be ridiculous."

Instead, Honey is trying to find women while touring the country performing.

She explains: “My security says to me: ‘If there’s any girls that I like at the gig to invite them into my enclosure.’

So I just say to them: ‘Can you get that one, bring that one in?’ So there has been that way.”

Has it worked out? “I haven’t met anyone that way yet. Mainly because a lot of the gigs that I do are straight gigs. So it’s hard that way.”

As for potential girlfriends wanting a date, Honey is open.

She says: “I suppose they can either contact my management or they can tweet me, send me a picture.

Then if I wanted to then I could follow them back and we could direct message.”

Honey now plans to rap about her sexuality and hopes the notoriously homophobic world of hip hop will accept her.

She says: “That will be amazing – I will start writing lyrics about me and another woman.

“I’m hoping it’s not going to have an impact on my chances of becoming a hip hop star.”

Honey felt empowered stripping off to reveal her body, which she has previously kept hidden behind baggy tracksuits.

She says: “I’ve not got a beach body, I’m not like a size eight or anything.

“People don’t necessarily look at me and think like I’m the sexiest woman alive.

“But I’m excited by the thought of becoming a sex symbol – it could tap into a completely different demographic.”

But right now Honey’s biggest priority is finding Mrs Right.

She says: “It would be amazing because I’m kind of at the stage now where I really want to create some options for myself. I’m 36, my biological clock is ticking,

“I’m at the point now where I’m ready to settle down properly. Yeah I want to find The One.”

Read on for more of Dan Wootton's Bizarre Column

Will's moment of Madge-ness

IT was an iconic moment when MADONNA kissed BRITNEY SPEARS and CHRISTINA AGUILERA on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards back in 2003.

And WILL YOUNG has revealed his record label later tried to imitate it – by getting him to snog GEORGE MICHAEL live at the Brit Awards.

Speaking about his early years in the industry, Will said: “You know what I was really conscious of?

“People taking me as a gay man and bringing it just back to sex.

“Someone at the record company, to try to get me on the Brits, suggested, ‘Why don’t you do a duet with George Michael and then, like Britney and Madonna and Christina Aguilera and Madonna, you kiss at the end and we get our moment?’

“God that makes me angry.”

But the Pop Idol winner also revealed he had planned to kiss a man in the video for his 2005 hit All Time Love.

Will decided against it and admitted: “I was thinking of my career.

“How many people want to see a man kiss a man in comparison to how many people don’t? More people don’t. But now I slightly regret it.”

He’s not done too badly anyway.

Sales scupper Justin

JUSTIN BIEBER cut short his world tour due to poor ticket sales, I can reveal.

Interest in seeing the Canadian live wavered towards the end of his 16-month Purpose World Tour.
Only one of his remaining 14 shows had sold out.

A source said: “Everyone wanted to see Justin when it began but it’s gone on too long – and he knows it.

“His Cardiff concert didn’t sell well and they gave away tickets free to army personnel and the local ice skating club to avoid embarrassment when people saw the empty seats.”

It’s time for him to get back in the studio.

A new album is sure to pique the Beliebers’ interest again.