Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey has opened up about the long road to his coming out.
Bailey, who currently stars in the West End play C*ck, came out publicly in 2020. Now, the 33-year-old has shared further details about his journey and how pressures within the showbiz world almost kept him in the closet.
In an interview with GQ, Bailey recalls a moment early in his career where a fellow actor was told, “There’s two things we don’t want to know: if you’re an alcoholic or if you’re gay.”
For Bailey, the off-hand comment had profound effects.
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“All it takes is for one of those people in that position of power to say that, and it ripples through,” he said. “So, yeah, of course, I thought that. Of course, I thought that in order to be happy I needed to be straight.”
Fortunately, that fear didn’t last forever.
“I reached a point where I thought, ‘F*ck this, I’d much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that than get a part’,” he further explained.
Related: Taron Egerton and Jonathan Bailey are about to do some serious ‘C*ck’
Bailey also says that his struggle with keeping his sexuality private has profoundly affected how he approaches a role.
“You put your life experiences into [the work],” he explained. “What’s most interesting is not necessarily having to talk about what that is, and keeping a sense of privacy.”
Upon his coming out in 2020, he told Ian McKellen that he’d never felt a need to deny his sexuality, but he did go through a long period where he preferred to keep it private.
“This was at a stage where perhaps I was coming to terms with my own sexuality, I hadn’t necessarily hidden it,” he said. “But I’ve never been not honest about it. It’s just there had never been a need to talk about it.”
And now, in tribute to Mr. Bailey and his honesty, have a look at some of our favorite shots from his Instagram…
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Invader7
He’s hot and the pic with the dog is awesome…
MarcyMayer
I commend this gentleman for coming out.
However, the film industry is still homophobic and audiences still have a hard time accepting gay men playing straight male romantic leads.
Sad, but true.
Of course, Jodie Foster – an out lesbian – is a top female movie star, but she hasn’t played any straight female romantic leads since she’s come out. I could be wrong.
Furthermore, I can’t think of one top male movie star who is both out and gay who has played a top straight male romantic lead, either.
Hopefully this will change.
Cam
Waiting for one of SamB’s screenames to come in here and start attacking him saying that people only come out for attention, blah blah blah.
Congratulations to him, glad he’s out and feeling comfortable with who he is. The more people in the public eye who do that, the better it is.
Jack
More, more, more Jonathan Bailey. I highly recommend watching the British series Crashing which is streaming on Netflix. (Not the US show by the same name on HBO) Johnathan Bailey is a doll in the show…ok he’s sexy AF. It was created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It deserves a second season! Unfortunately Fleabag was such a hit, Crashing got sidelined.
BoomerMyles
He won an Olivier award for playing half a gay couple in the West End production of Sondheim’s Company.
Donston
No, not everything is about “sexuality”. And you should try to stay out of people’s business as much as you can. However, a lot of people who claim that they “don’t care about what happens in people’s bedrooms” or “don’t care about people’s sexualities” are the same ones who indulge causal homophobia, trans-phobia, femme-phobia, refuse to acknowledge hetero privileges, refuse to acknowledge hetero pressures and toxic masculinity and hetero dominance, refuse to acknowledge how difficult it can be for many people (especially males) to be “out”, refuse to even try to understand sexuality or the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum. So, it is important for a handful of public figures to keep talking about their internal and external struggles and journeys honestly.
Donston
We’re getting to a place where even a lot of “out” actors don’t want to acknowledge the industry’s closet pressures, especially for conventionally good-looking guys and don’t want to talk about the industry’s general hypocrisies and messed up ways. They’re too concerned with making sure that they get work and don’t ruffle feathers. They want to make sure that they fit in with “straight presenting” and “hetero-leaning presenting” actors. They want to make sure that they don’t come off whiny (because they are indeed privileged). So, it is refreshing for a guy who’s unabashedly “out” and getting a good amount of work to just be straight-forward concerning his struggles about his experiences and the industry’s nonsense.
UserSimon
Oh my, that top photo of JB on the Bridgerton set. It’s almost, almost as if he doesn’t know how good-looking he is. That hot guy nonchalance hottness.
Essie
He was my favorite in the first “Bridgerton” so I can’t wait to see him again. And that puppy pic is ADORABLE!!! Love a man and his dog.