Jonathan Bailey said he once worried that being openly gay could limit his acting opportunities. In a 2022 interview with GQ Hype, he recalled career advice that left him thinking he needed to be straight to be happy, before deciding he would rather hold his boyfriend’s hand in public than keep worrying about landing a part.
What Jonathan Bailey said about pressure to hide his sexuality
Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton, described a fear that openness about his sexuality might affect his career. In the account of the GQ Hype interview published by Just Jared on March 9, 2022, he said advice relayed to a fellow actor had stayed with him: “There’s two things we don’t want to know: if you’re an alcoholic or if you’re gay.”
That was reported as advice Bailey had heard about someone else—not a direct statement from a named casting executive or employer to Bailey. He did not identify a specific production or casting decision that denied him a role because he was gay. The account describes his perception of pressure and its effect on him, not proof of a particular act of discrimination.
Why Bailey thought he needed to be straight
Bailey said the advice shaped how he thought about happiness and success. “Of course I thought that in order to be happy, I needed to be straight,” he said, as reported by Just Jared. Glamour UK’s March 11, 2022 account also framed the interview around his early-career worries and the pressure he felt to keep his personal life private.
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Why he chose openness over worrying about a role
Bailey described a point when the cost of staying guarded outweighed his fear of losing work. He said he would “much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public … than getting a part.” His choice, as he described it, was about living more openly rather than letting anxiety over a possible casting outcome govern his personal life.
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Earlier comments about gay actors and roles
Bailey had spoken about industry attitudes before the 2022 interview. A Just Jared report from December 30, 2020, covering interviews with Digital Spy and Attitude, included his discussion of gay actors playing straight leading roles and conservative advice he had encountered. In that earlier context, he was quoted as saying: “They want you to be gay, but not too gay.” That remark belongs to the 2020 discussion, not the 2022 GQ Hype interview.
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His reflection after Bridgerton
In a Guardian interview published February 16, 2025, Bailey reflected on the attention surrounding his identity after Bridgerton, the burden of being treated as a mouthpiece, and his Shameless Fund. Those later comments offer context on fame, identity, and privacy; they are a separate reflection, not a replacement for what he said about career pressure in 2022.
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