“I’d much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public”: Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey reveals pressure to suppress sexuality in Hollywood

Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, who came out as homos*xual in 2018, said he felt pressured to hide his s*xuality early in his career in order to succeed as an actor in Hollywood.

In an interview with GQ UK, the actor revealed that at one point in his life, he realized that nothing beats putting his happiness first and being himself before landing a role. He noted:

“I reached a point where I thought, ‘F**k 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.”

Jonathan Bailey recalled words that rippled through him

Bailey recalled how one of his fellow actors was once given an insensitive word of advice during the pilot season. He stated:

“At the time he was told, ‘There’s two things we don’t want to know: if you’re an alcoholic or if you’re gay.’”

He looked back on how he was affected by the words, saying:

“All it takes is for one of those people in that position of power to say that, and it ripples through.”

The actor also mentioned how he was pressured to hide his s*xual orientation and even felt the need to be straight.

“So, yeah, of course, I thought that. Of course, I thought that in order to be happy, I needed to be straight.”

However, even though it took him a long time to publicly talk about his s*xuality, he ultimately put his fear of being an outcast aside and came out.

Jonathan Bailey does not like the idea of being a s*x symbol

Bailey, who plays the eldest Bridgerton son, Anthony, will take center stage in the second season of the show. The upcoming season will revolve around Anthony playing a risky game with the hearts of two sisters — Kate ( played by Simone Ashley) and Edwina (played by Charithra Chandran) — one of whom he must choose.

However, Bailey is not quite okay with being considered a s*x symbol for his role as the silver-tongued ladies-man in the Netflix series. In the GQ interview, he commented:

“Any actor who thinks they’re a s*x symbol? Cringe.”

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Bridgerton Season 2 hits the streaming service on March 25.