British television presenter Clare Balding reveals her grandmother thought she was "disgusting" after it surfaced she was gay.

The 42 year-old recently appeared on BBC 4's Desert Island Discs and said the pair didn't speak for six months after the revelation.

Balding made the decision to tell her grandmother of her sexual orientation after been photographed at a film premiere with her partner, Alice Arnold.

She told host Kirsty Young, "I said 'Grandma I need to talk to you' and she said 'Yes I should think you do', I said 'Have you seen the paper?' and she said 'Yes and I think it's disgusting'.

"I said 'What do you mean? The invasion of my privacy or my lifestyle choice' and she said 'Both' and I didn't talk to her for about six months after that which was pretty difficult."

Clare played a pivotal role in broadcasting the 2012 Olympic Games in London on the BBC and the Paralympic Games for Channel 4, also addressed if she will go to Russia to cover the 2014 Winter Olympics, as the country has passed anti-gay laws that are against the promotion of homosexuality.

The host, Young, asked if she could work at the Sochi Games with a "clear conscience" and Balding replied, "Absolutely, because I think it's hugely important that I do go."

Taking a stand next February against the Russian laws, according to the former jockey, "would make absolutely no difference at all to anyone in Russia would it?"

She continued, "I mean I didn't do the Open golf at Muirfield last summer, I didn't make a big song and dance about it but I felt morally I couldn't go to an all-male club and sell this great golf event when I knew I wouldn't be allowed there on any day of the week. I will make a moral stand on things but in this instance the right thing to do is go."

Clare Balding
Balding will be going to Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics