Graham Norton: ‘Gay men my age don’t want to date someone their own age’

Graham Norton has opened up about finding love in his 50s, saying that he thinks he’ll be “single forever” because gay men his age “don’t want to date someone their age”.

The BBC One presenter – who split with his boyfriend of two years, Trevor Patterson, back in 2013 – added that his current single status often makes him feel like he’s “failed”.

Asked about his love life, Norton told The Mail on Sunday’s TV Week: “Well, I’m 52 and I’m single and on some level, I feel like I’ve failed because by the time you’re my age, you really should be settled.

“But then I look at the relationships people around me have and I find myself asking, ‘Really? That doesn’t look like winning to me. I’ve reached the point that when people ask, ‘Are you single at the moment?’, I say, ‘Come on, you can drop the ‘at the moment’.’ I’m single forever.

“That’s the weird thing. Gay men my age don’t want to date someone their age.”

The Ireland-born star, who didn’t begin to attract mainstream success until he reach his mid-thirties, added that his current success had come at the cost of other areas of his life.

“To succeed in this business, you do have to work very hard and sacrifice a lot to get there,” he went on.

“There are years of penury. Once you’ve arrived, you don’t walk away from it lightly because getting there has cost you dear.

“Mind you, it’s quite a fun job, isn’t it? I’m not digging coal.”

In honour of Graham’s birthday earlier this year, we take a look back at some of the most unmissable moments from his chat show’s eight-year run – click here to check them out.

The Graham Norton show airs Fridays at 10.35pm  BBC One.

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