If you have spent any time on the internet since 2020, you already know GK Barry. Grace Keeling built an empire out of oversharing (her words, not ours) – 4 million-plus on TikTok, the Saving Grace podcast, a fifth-place finish in the I’m A Celebrity jungle, the youngest ever Loose Women panellist and a BBC Radio 1 show. She has also become one of our favourite visible sapphics, thanks to her relationship with footballer Ella Rutherford and a coming out story that made a lot of us feel very seen.
Now she has put the whole lot in writing. It’s Giving Life: A Guide to Surviving and Thriving is out this week, and it is exactly what you would hope for: dating disasters, revenge on school bullies, the full story of her sexuality, and some genuinely serious chapters she has never spoken about publicly before.
We grabbed her on launch week to talk prosecco, exes with half a tooth, and her best advice for every young queer person watching her and taking notes. Here’s how it went.
It’s Giving Life is finally here (hooray), we need to know – how are you celebrating the launch?
“I am celebrating by having a bottle of prosecco, reading it out to my dogs so they know that they should be ashamed of their mum, and also probably grovelling to Ella about all the horrific stories in there too. That is my night planned.”
Nothing says “I’ve made it” like shaming your school bullies in print. Was the revenge chapter as satisfying to write as it sounds, and are we talking names, or have you left them out?
“It was very satisfying and I’m hoping they’ve all got themselves a copy god bless, and if they want one I am happy to send them a signed copy. I did change the names, but they were so similar that I might as well not have bothered.”
Promising readers the full story of “why I became a raging lez” is legend behaviour. For everyone reading who’s somewhere on their own version of that journey, what’s your best piece of advice?
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“I say in the book that I think we should stop stressing about labels. Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi? If you like a woman then date her, if you like a man, then date him. Do what makes you happy.”
Your book also goes somewhere far more serious, including things you’ve never spoken about publicly before. What made this the right moment to write those chapters, and what do you hope they do for someone who reads them and recognises themselves?
“Well I was only ever going to write one book and I thought I might as well put everything in there and take that opportunity. I am hoping that by sharing these things, I will be able to help people that have been through a similar situation and show them that it wasn’t their fault, and hopefully helping younger people to not end up in the same situation that I was in.”
You promise dating disasters and the art of dealing with exes. Do the exes get named, and have you told them they feature?
“None of them know that they feature, but I think if you’ve ever dated me, you know it’s coming. I haven’t named them but I’ve been so specific – for example, one of them I said had ‘half a tooth’ so he will know it’s about him straight away. Unfortunately, it’s a long day to be my ex.”
And then there’s Ella, the part we’re all loving. You’ve become a visible queer couple, at a moment when that visibility is so vital. What’s that been like, and how have you dealt with that as a couple?
“It’s been really nice to shine a positive light on queer relationships and I have had such a great reception from all my followers. Even from I’m A Celeb and sharing how my parents reacted to me coming out, hopefully I’ve been able to make a difference in how parents can react in future to their children coming out. My parents did it in a really good way. I hope we can see more queer couples in this industry in the future, because it’s great to be out and proud my loves.”
For every young sapphic watching you and wanting to follow in your footsteps – what’s your best piece of advice? And what do you wish someone had told you before becoming famous?
“I learnt this a little bit later on, and I am still learning it, but not to care what people think. If I was stressed about what people from school would think about me, or what people that knew me would think, I don’t think I’d be where I am. It’s always embarrassing when you’re starting out with something new, but when you’ve finally made it to a certain point, no one will think it’s embarrassing anymore so you have to look to that.”
Nonchalant readers live for a recommendation. Who’s the queer artist or creator we should all be paying attention to, and the queer business or space you’d send us to this weekend?
“I mean I have to say my king Louie Spence because he is just iconic and should be paid attention to at all times. I also have to give a shout out to Elektra Fence who is a good friend of mine and is amazing at what she does.
“I’m actually such a granny these days, so I’ve traded nights out for nights in with the wife and dogs, but if there’s plans to go to a karaoke bar count me in.”
It’s launch day, someone’s just bought the book. If they walk away with one genuinely useful thing from it, what do you hope it is?
“I’m hoping that in whatever era of life they are reading it from, whether that’s uni, younger days, or later in life – that they take away from it that I probably have embarrassed myself more than them and they should feel happy and sleep better at night because of that, but also that nothing is ever as deep as it feels at the time and things will get better!”
Get the book
It’s Giving Life: A Guide to Surviving and Thriving by GK Barry
Launch – 3 September 2026
Pre-order: Waterstones | Amazon
Happy reading,
Nonchalant x
Your next read: Book review: ‘Almost Life’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
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Abi is the Founding Director of Nonchalant Magazine. She’s previously had a 7-year career in Digital Marketing within the eCommerce and Travel Sector. Aside from running Nonchalant, she’s a Lead Software Engineer and has worked on large scale projects for some of the biggest tech giants and was recently shortlisted on the Google Startups and Computer Weekly ‘Women in Software Powerlist 2020’.
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