Suzi Ruffell: ‘It's never too late to come out’
How Do You Cope?
Significant Productions
4.9 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do you learn to accept yourself after years of trying to be someone else?
In today’s episode, John is joined by comedian, writer and podcaster Suzi Ruffell.
Suzi opens up about how childhood anxiety shaped her early life, from intrusive thoughts and compulsive checking, to the fear of losing loved ones. She reflects on how these anxieties have evolved in the age of social media, and why she feels truly peaceful and present when performing on-stage.
Suzi also explores her experience of coming out, navigating self-acceptance and why giving a platform to queer stories is so important in today’s ever-changing world.
Suzi’s book Am I Having Fun Now? Is available now.
On Thursday in our bonus episode The Gratitude List, Suzi shares the things that she is currently grateful for.
You can send in your thoughts and reflections to hello@howdoyoucopepod.com or via howdoyoucopepod.com
Watch and subscribe on YouTube @howdoyoucopepod
Follow the show on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook
How Do You Cope is a Significant Production.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone, it's John here. Just letting you know that I have written a book. It's called Thirst, |
| 0:05.0 | 12 drinks that changed my life, and it's out now. In many episodes of How Do You Cope, |
| 0:09.7 | you'll have heard me talk about my relationship with alcohol, and in writing Thirst, I wanted to |
| 0:13.9 | explore what alcohol means. Why did it mean more to me than other people? Why did it mean some |
| 0:19.3 | things felt better, and why did it mean so many |
| 0:21.5 | things went wrong? I also talk about lots of other things you'll have heard me and my guests |
| 0:26.1 | discuss on how do you cope. Meditation, physical pain, gratitude, trauma and therapy. There's even |
| 0:32.0 | a chapter about my bum and its relationship with Buddhism. So if that piques your interest, |
| 0:36.6 | thirst is out now, |
| 0:37.9 | and the audiobook, read by me, is available wherever you get audiobooks from. |
| 1:00.5 | Hello and welcome to How Do You Cope with me, John Robbins. |
| 1:04.8 | This is the show where I sit down with special guests to talk about the challenges they've overcome and the coping mechanisms they use in their everyday lives. |
| 1:08.7 | Today's guest is the comedian, writer and podcaster, Susie Ruffle. |
| 1:13.4 | Susie first performed stand-up comedy whilst at drama school in London, and she's |
| 1:17.3 | taken multiple sold-out shows to the Edinburgh Festival and also appeared on many different |
| 1:21.6 | TV and radio shows. |
| 1:23.7 | She's the host of the podcast's like-minded friends with Tom Allen, Big Kick Energy with Maisie Adam, and the solo offering out with Susie Ruffle, where she interviews inspirational people from the queer community. |
| 1:35.5 | Last year, she released her memoir, Am I Having Fun Now? And the book covers, amongst other things, her lifelong journey with anxiety, her struggles to understand her own sexuality, |
| 1:45.6 | and her journey of both coming out as a lesbian and becoming a parent. The paperback of Am I Having |
| 1:51.4 | Fun Now is out on the 28th of May. And in our conversation, we spoke about how Susie's anxiety manifested |
| 1:57.7 | in childhood, how stand-up comedy provides relief from her head, and what |
| 2:01.8 | lessons she's learned from becoming a mum. And before we get started, don't forget that you can now |
... |
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