Paul Sinha: ‘Parkinson’s doesn’t have to be the end of a story. It can be the beginning of one’
Growing up in a middle-class Bengali family in south London, Paul Sinha was expected to become a doctor, marry a woman and be a “role model”. However, his path took a different turn
By Dale Fox
As a teenager in the 1980s, Paul Sinha attended a public school where he was acutely aware of his sexuality but felt unable to express it. “It was generally understood that nobody ever came out of the closet at public school for fear of disgrace and expulsion,” he recalls. “I had no one to speak to. I had no family to speak to. I had no friends to speak to. I was very much alone with my thoughts.”
It wasn’t until he left school that 2024 PEUGEOT Attitude Pride ICON Award winner Paul began to come out to close friends, and later, while attending medical school, he found the courage to embrace his identity. “Alcohol proved very much the lubrication to me becoming some semblance of the human being that I wanted to become, comfortable in my own skin and unashamed of my sexuality,” he explains in his trademark deadpan tone.
“I was a regular on the Soho scene throughout the 90s until the responsibilities of the medical profession took that away from me”
Paul started frequenting London’s gay scene in 1988, despite this period being the height of the AIDS crisis. “I’ve lived a life and I’ve always lived a life,” he shares. “I was a regular on the Soho scene throughout the 90s until the responsibilities of the medical profession took that away from me.”
Despite completing his medical education and becoming a doctor, Paul’s true passion lay in comedy, which he discovered in 1995 when he took to the stage as a stand-up. “I’m a doctor, I’m a stand-up comedian, and I’m a professional quizzer,” he says. “None of those were things that I wanted to do when I was growing up.”
Despite their relative ease in accepting his new career, coming out to his family proved more challenging. But Paul’s decision was taken out of his hands when someone at a party drunkenly called his mother and revealed his sexuality as a “hilarious” prank. “It was a real heartbreak for her, especially to have it told in such a brutal manner,” Paul shares. It took 11 years before he had a heart-to-heart conversation with his father, who, to Paul’s surprise, had suspected his son’s sexuality and was pragmatic about it.
“The stage is the last place where you should be presenting a diluted version of yourself”
This turning point in Paul’s life coincided with a significant shift in his comedy career. “The decision to come out to my dad in 2005 and to build a show upon that in 2006 [Saint or Sinha?] proved the turning point in my career,” he said, with the show leading Paul to become the first British Asian comedian to be nominated for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award.
Paul’s approach to comedy has always been unapologetically honest. “The stage is the last place where you should be presenting a diluted version of yourself,” he asserts. Indeed, Paul believes that being matter-of-fact about sexuality helps break down barriers and prejudices, clarifying: “I’m as gay as they come. I love men. I can’t get enough of men. I really can’t.”
And despite being open about his sexuality since the beginning of his career, Paul found himself making headlines in 2017 for apparently coming out on TV show The Chase after mentioning an ex-boyfriend. “I got newspaper headlines saying, ‘Chaser Comes Out on The Chase for the First Time,’” he recalls. “I’m like, ‘Sorry, I’ve been saying I’m gay since 1995. Twenty-two years later, they’re saying that I’ve come out of the closet.’”
“I enjoy showing the world that Parkinson’s doesn’t have to be the end of a story”
In 2019, Paul faced a new challenge when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. True to his nature, he’s been open about his diagnosis and uses his platform to raise awareness of the condition. “I enjoy showing the world that Parkinson’s doesn’t have to be the end of a story. It can be the beginning of one,” he says. “Yes, it’s a rocky and less than ideal story, but I refuse to let Parkinson’s control what I do. Parkinson’s is not a nice thing to have. However, there are a million other things that are not nice in the world that are affecting other people.”
Paul’s resilience and positivity are not only evident in his approach to Parkinson’s but also in his personal life. In 2019, he married his husband, Oliver, whom he met through competitive quizzing. “Oliver is very much the love of my life, and we do everything together,” Paul shares. “A journey shared is a journey made far more happy and pleasurable than a journey done on your own.”
“Making the most of life is being the person that you want to be”
For Paul, winning a PEUGEOT Attitude Pride Icon Award is a meaningful recognition of his journey. “I’m very proud of the fact that I’m a stand-up comedian, I’m the 2019 British Quiz Champion, and I’m an out, gay British Asian person who’s married to a guy who my mum and dad think is wonderful,” he says. “It’s an unusual combination of things.”
His lifelong commitment to being himself and his ability to find joy in the face of challenges make him an inspiration to the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. As he puts it: “Making the most of life is being the person that you want to be, and the person that you want to be is much more comfortable in their own skin when they’re happy and upfront about themselves.”
This feature appears in Issue 359 of Attitude magazine, which is available to order online here and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.
