Nicola Sturgeon opens up about miscarriage, sexuality and 'mental torture' of arrest in new memoir
In an excerpt of her memoir, Frankly, published by The Times, the former first minister of Scotland described being arrested and questioned by the police as "mental torture" and "the worst day" of her life.
Ms Sturgeon was arrested in 2023 as part of an investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.
Her husband, Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the SNP, was also arrested and later charged with embezzlement, after his and Ms Sturgeon's home was searched by police looking into what happened to £660,000 of donations to the party.
She wrote of an 'overwhelming' sense of relief and release upon being told she would face no further action in March 2025.
The former first minister also speaks candidly about her miscarriage in 2010, saying she went to work in January while she was in 'constant agony', including a memorial event for the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster.
Ms Sturgeon said she found out she was miscarrying while receiving a flu jab on December 30 of that year, which led to an urgent appointment at Glasgow Royal Infirmary the following day.
'I think I'd known in my heart what the outcome would be, but I was still hoping for the best,' she wrote.
'It seemed that suddenly, belatedly, I wanted to be pregnant after all. The nurse who did the scan was lovely."
'I didn't really know what I was looking for on the screen, but her face told me what I needed to know. The baby was gone.'
Another topic addressed in her memoir is of rumours about her 'torrid lesbian affair' in 2020 with Catherine Colonna, who was French ambassador to the UK at the time, and false rumours perpetuated about her issuing a super-injunction to silence the press.
She said: 'However, while the fact I was being lied about got under my skin, the nature of the insult itself was water off a duck's back...
'Long-term relationships with men have accounted for more than 30 years of my life, but I have never considered sexuality, my own included, to be binary. Moreover, sexual relationships should be private matters.'
Frankly by Nicola Sturgeon will be published on Thursday.
Nicola Sturgeon: The Interview, will be shown on ITV1, STV and ITVX on Monday, August 11 at 7pm.
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