Wicked star Jonathan Bailey has opened up about a past ordeal in which he suffered abuse on the streets simply for holding hands with a man he was dating at the time
Jonathan Bailey has revealed he was heckled for holding a boyfriend’s hand while out and about in London.
The 36-year-old Bridgerton star confided to his family and friends that he is gay when he was in his 20s, but did not publicly reveal his sexuality until 2018. He has since campaigned for equality and raised awareness for LGBT charities including Just Like Us which offers support to LGBT youth.
However, Jonathan says he was the victim of homophobic abuse when he was out with a boyfriend in the past. The star is no longer dating the person in question, but says he was more confident to be out and proud in public than his then-boyfriend was.
The Wicked actor was left stunned when he was heckled by other members of the public when he showed simple affection by holding his then-boyfriend’s hand. However, he has suggested that attitudes have since changed and now he feels encouraged by others when he is engaging in public displays of affection.
Opening up to Vogue magazine, Jonathan said: “I’ve always been a confident hand-holder in relationships. I had a boyfriend who wasn’t experienced at holding hands in public. We got heckled in London. But that kind of behaviour is now outweighed by the smiles you get.”
During his chat with the fashion bible, he also discussed early memories of discovering his sexuality. Thinking back to a discussion with male friends while at primary school, the actor shared: “I remember excitedly asking them ‘Guys, guys, who else thinks they’re gay? Do you? I do. I do.’ It was a conversation I really, really wanted to have, to see if everyone else was on the same page. But everyone went quiet.”
He added: “I think other people understood my sexuality before I was even aware of it.” And explaining that he enjoyed a two year romance with a woman in his youth, he said: “It’s interesting with the binary where you’re perceived to be either this or that. That’s how I saw it at the time, but there are so many nuances to it. My experience of that relationship was not that I was in the shadows. She remains one of my best friends.”
Jonathan came out around the time he starred in the a critically acclaimed 2018 production of the musical Company in London’s West End. Speaking to Attitude magazine at the time, Jonathan shared his excitement at being able to explore same-sex marriage through his role in the show.
He said: “The thing I really like about it is that there is no question of them not being accepted, Bobbie’s best friend just happens to be marrying a man. Gay men should be able to get married, it shouldn’t be seen as a privilege, absolutely we should.
“But the question of, ‘Just because we can, should we?’ is an interesting one. Suddenly you’re allowed to commit to someone and that is acknowledged by society in a way that it never had been before, when you had to fight your counter-culture. The idea of being a part of the bigger thing, being accepted in a legal sense, and how that affects the way you feel about yourself when you’ve always been othered… that’s what I’m bringing to it.”
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