Who is Charlie King? Star of The Only Way Is Essex and personal trainer who came out as gay on This Morning
CHARLIE King made a grand return to The Only Way is Essex this series after a four year absence from the popular ITVBe show.
But what exactly has changed in that time? Here's all you need to know about him...
Who is Charlie King?
Charlie is a 31-year-old reality star, personal trainer and model.
He's most known for being on The Only Way is Essex, appearing in 55 episodes of the show before leaving in 2013.
However, it has recently been revealed he is returning to the show, and has been pictured on the set of series 20.
What happened between Charlie and Gemma?
Charlie dated co-star Gemma Collins for a short period of time in 2012.
He ended up calling time on the relationship when he discovered that she was sending messages to co-star Ricky Rayment.
At the time, he declared he "wasn't Essex enough" for the fan favourite, however the star later came out as gay.
Despite the relationship ending, Gemma and Charlie have remained on good terms.
How did Charlie King come out?
In October 2014, Charlie appeared on TV show This Morning and revealed that he was gay.
The star made the announcement as part of a conversation about the difficulties LGBT+ people face when coming out.
He said: "Our stories will help people, there is a way out. You are not alone. I want to be a positive person and tell people 'you can do this'."
Charlie received waves of support from the Towie cast, celebrities and fans, who were inspired by his move.
Mario Falcone, who was still on Towie at the time, also backed him up and added: "Very proud of @CharlieKing85...Very brave! Well done mate xxx."
He was later connected to crooner Sam Smith - having a six month relationship before calling it quits.
Although he didn't confirm at the time, he later told “We dated. We hung out in the beginning part of this year. I didn’t think of our relationship as a celebrity one.
"We wanted it to be kept private and, as soon as it got out, it made me feel very uneasy. It’s a shame.
"Sam could see that it wasn’t going in the right direction. It was the wrong timing. I realised it would have been quite an intense thing if it had really flourished.”
What happened to Charlie on TOWIE and when did he return?
Charlie left the ITVBe show in 2013 to focus on his personal training career, but he's now returned to the popular programme.
Fans were VERY excited when he made his comeback, as he left them feeling hot under the collar when he flaunted his chiselled torso.
In February 2017 he was spotted with Gemma filming a host of new scenes for the show.
It's believed that Gemma has brought him on board to train her while she loses weight.
They were spotted in a boxing ring in Liverpool training with gloves in the ring.
